Naruto's Hero Academia
by anime-obsessed-1-7
Summary: Naruto needs a break from his life before he breaks, and some of his precious people know it too. Tsunade decides to send Naruto on a mission to the outside because of this. Will he make friends? How long can he stay undercover for? What will he find out about everyone while he is there? ANBU Naruto & Shikamaru!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

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Naruto sat on his bed in his tiny apartment, looking at the new mission scroll he had gotten from Tusande moments ago. His apartment was dirty, despite Naruto's attempts to keep it clean. Rocks, broken glass, beer cans, and old paper bombs littered his floors. Message written on or attached to the rocks that he had heard and seen so many times before.

_"Just die demon!"_

_"No one will ever love you!"_

_"Fox brat."_

_"Just do everyone a favor and kill yourself!"_

_"This village would be safer without you!"_

_"Why are you still here?"_

His windows were also broken and shattered from the rocks and other things chucked at his windows. This is something that had happened daily for Naruto once the third gave him this apartment when he was four.

At a young age, Naruto would try to report everything that happened and get help from adults, but the adults never did anything about the situation. They would either send him on his way or start beating him. And one adult beating him would always soon turn into a mob beating him. At three, it quickly became apparent to Naruto that the only person who cared for him was the third and try as he might the hokage could never do much to help him. That was why as soon as he got Naruto his own apartment, he also started his training. The third did this in hopes that Naruto would thrive as he knew Naruto could do when given the correct materials, and the opportunity to do so. He also had Naruto learn self-defense.

Unsure of what the council would say, the third thought it would be best to do this under the elders' noses. He had the ANBU guards that were supposed to watch and observe Naruto teach him book work that was taught in the academy, and at home workouts to build up his muscles. But, a year later when they started to teach Naruto different Shinobi techniques and spar with him, the council caught wind of what was happening. Surprisingly, the council was in favor of having Naruto join ANBU, saying that it would be better to keep the village beast on a tight leash, and use him to their advantage. While the hokage did not agree with this, he knew it was better than the alternative.

So, when Naruto turned six, he moved into the ANBU compound and started more rigorous training. It was in there that Naruto first met his soon to be best friend, Shikamaru, who was also getting put into ANBU because of his insanely high IQ for a six-year-old. A year later, two new ANBU were produced. The youngest in history and quiet the duo. Shikamaru took on his father's identity as deer, as his father had quit ANBU and taken the position of a jounin, while Naruto became kitsune (Ironic I know but I couldn't think of anything else and it suits Naruto in this fic). Because both Shikamaru and Naruto became the youngest ANBU in Konoha history, their ANBU identities were well-known throughout the village. No one knew their exact age, but from their appearance it became quite obvious that they were under the age of 12.

When the academy was getting ready to start up after the Uchiha massacre, Naruto and Shikamaru were both assigned to watch over Sasuke and make sure that the didn't become too unstable and betray the village. They both went undercover as students to do this. Shikamaru took on the image of a lazy student, as he was lazy by nature, but never revealing his smarts. If he did, he and Naruto feared that Sasuke would think of him as a threat and constantly try to one-up him and prove that he is superior, as his egotistical behavior became apparent after a few days of observing him. Naruto took on the role of the academy failure and dead-last, as well as obnoxious. It not only made since with the way he was treated as a young child, but it also assured that Sasuke knew of him to some degree. It also allowed Naruto to become Sasuke's _"rival"_ without Sasuke, or anyone else, taking him too seriously. This persona also benefited Naruto outside of the academy, as civilians and anyone else not knowing of Naruto's ANBU status, he seemed less dangerous and slowly, the villagers stopped beating Naruto. However, the ugly glances, whispers, and damage to his apartments never stopped.

When the time came for teams to be put together, Shikamaru was put on a team with Ino and Choji, to keep the ShikaInoChoji going for yet another generation. Naruto was put onto a team with Sasuke and Sakura, to better keep the mission going. However, from the start both Shikamaru and Naruto knew that Shikamaru was not going to be put onto a team with Sasuke, which is why Shikamaru always did slightly better on tests then Naruto, so it would not seem suspicious when Naruto was put on a team with Sasuke. This was also to ensure that he kept up his clans' image. Granted, you would think that he would score higher up, but he had to prevent Sasuke from thinking of him as competition.

So, Naruto wore his mask almost everywhere he went. Not only for his cover but also for survival as he was safer from the village, and outside forces, if he played dumb. The only people Naruto ever fully opened up to were Shikamaru, who he quickly became friends with during their ANBU training together, and the third.

After the Chunin exams, Naruto and Shikamaru were supposed to have completed the mission and return to doing other ANBU missions full time (as they would be given one or two missions each month to maintain their status with the other ANBU and so people knew that they were still active) but with the third's death, it just didn't happen. Shikamaru got promoted to the status of a Chunin (officially, unofficially he was still an ANBU) and remained on a team with Ino and Choji. And while he didn't mind that, he missed A and S-ranked missions with Naruto weekly. Naruto needed to find a new hokage, as well as get Sasuke back before either of them could go public (or at least tell their friends) that they were in ANBU, and for the Uchiha mission to come to a close.

Shikamaru was trusted with watching over Sasuke while Naruto went to get the new hokage. But he ultimately failed when Sasuke ran away to go chase after power, betraying Konoha in the process. After the retrieval of Sasuke had failed, Shikamaru and Naruto were told that the mission was being put to rest, seeing the mental strain it was putting on the both of them, also considering the fact that the whole village would be involved in this mess now. Naruto needed the break as he could fell his well, crafted mask that he had made begin to crumble as Sakura, and many others, blamed him for the mission failing. Shikamaru needed a break for blaming himself for the mission failure as well as trying to prevent his friend from having a mental break down. With all of this in mind, Tusande put the mission on hiatus and gave the two ANBU agents more missions together and put the responsibility of Sasuke's return to others.

While this did help Naruto, his mask was still breaking, are cracks forming in it every day. Shikamaru's, Tusande's, and Jiraiya's best efforts could not prevent this. While all of them hated the idea of Naruto wearing a mask, they knew that if it were to break, he would explode. They wanted him to be able to remove the mask without suffering anymore mentally.

So, Naruto now sits on his bed with a new mission in hand. Tusande had explained to him when he was in her office that it was a solo S-ranked mission that Naruto would be going on. What made this mission special though was that Naruto would be traveling to the outside for this mission.

Years ago, when chakra was first being discovered, it became apparent that people were born with or without chakra. Even the civilians in the hidden villages had chakra, they just didn't train with it early enough to be able to use it. People without chakra wanted to know how they could obtain and use it, so they quickly started torturing and experimenting on those who did have it. Soon, a war broke out between the two groups. Through seals and other jutsu, chakra users where able to hide themselves from the rest of the world, and they were soon forgotten to the outside.

To ensure their safety, multiple villages always had spies in the outside, to make sure that they would stay concealed and so another war would not break out. With the raise of what the outsiders called _"quirks" _more spies were sent out. Now, with the knowledge that All-For-One, a guy with a kekkei genkai that allowed him to steal and give kekkei genkai from and to others, and All Might passing One-For-All to another, along with the suspected rise of an organization led by All-For-One, it became apparent that another war would break out, and the possible discovery of the hidden villages along with it. Not wanting to be dragged into another war that was not theirs to fight, the Kages held a meeting to discuss their next course of action.

In the end, they came to the decision that someone would be sent to the outside to observe the next One-For-All user as well as observe All Might, other heroes, and understand more of the outside by sending someone to the school where they knew the next One-For-All user would be attending. They also knew that All Might would be teaching there, as well as other heroes, and there was possibility that whoever they sent out there would become a hero in that world, who they could send out again and get information that would be hidden to the public if need be.

The Kages decided to send Naruto, as he was well-skilled from being in ANBU, fit the age group, had clear loyalties to Konoha, and could keep his real self-secret.

She had told him all of this, as well as about Shikagari, who would most likely inherit All-For-One next, Izuku Midoriya, who was suspected to inherit One-For-All, and about the general society out there. Jiraiya was to bring him to the outside in a week's time, where they would meet one of his spy's who would bring him to his apartment, which was located in Izuku's complex, and help him enroll in U. A.

Naruto was told that while this was a solo mission, Shikamaru would more than likely be going him at some point throughout the mission, so he as well as Tusande would be reading his reports. As for the rest of the Rookie 9, they would be told that Naruto was going to do more solo training with Jiraiya after the Sasuke retrieval mission failure.

After Naruto finished reading the files, he got up and started to pack for the mission, knowing it would be a long one.

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**Updated: 5/8/20**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

**A/N: I would like the thank everyone that followed and favorited this story. As well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

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_"So, you leave tomorrow?" Asked Shikamaru. He and Naruto where currently laying in a lone field in Konoha. The former, taking a drag off a cigarette before handing it to the latter so he could take one too. Naruto didn't usually smoke, but he was leaving soon and wanted to enjoy his last few days with Shikamaru. He had also been very tense lately with the upcoming mission he couldn't help it. Smoking was something he did when he needed to relax, and he knew he did because he was certain this was going to be a very stressful mission._

_"Yeah," Naruto replied, taking the cigarette from his friend and taking a drag himself before handing it back to him. "I'm already packed, so don't get your mother nagging me about it." He added, blowing the smoke out of his lungs._

_"You know she only does it because she loves you and thinks of you as a son." Shikamaru replied, taking another drag from the cigarette. "Besides, if you've already done it then that means I don't have to tell the troublesome woman, which saves me a headache and time." Naruto let out a small chuckle at that before letting the comfortable silence fall over them. The only noise was the trees dancing in the wind as the two boys sharing the cigarette. _

_"Why don't you stay the night at my place?" Shikamaru asked, turning his head to look at Naruto. "I know that eventually I'll be joining you on the mission, but neither of us know when that will be. Plus, it will be a while before my folks can see you again, and we both know that they'll miss you a lot. It's also too troublesome to get up even earlier to meet up with you before other people come to see you off when we can all just talk at my house." Seeing Naruto hesitate, because even after almost 10 years of knowing each other, Naruto was still afraid of over welcoming himself into their house and have them stop loving him, Shikamaru continued. "My mom is making sushi tonight anyway. I know it's not ramen, but you need proper food before you leave." _

_"All right," Naruto replied, handing the cigarette back over to Shikamaru, who took one last drag before stomping it out and standing up. "Good, let's go then before she sends all of Konoha looking for us to get to dinner on time." Shikamaru said standing up and extending his hand to Naruto for him to take. Naruto did, and once he was standing, he wrapped his arm around Shikamaru, who did the same, and the walked like that to the Nara compound._

* * *

Naruto watched as the scene in front of him changed from clear open water to populated land. From where he sat on a small pontoon boat, Naruto could make out a large land mass with extremely tall buildings just along the horizon. If he focused, he could hear what he believed to be cars honking at one another, from what Tsunade had described to him. Naruto wore a long-sleeved orange T-shirt with black, baggie, cargo pants, a black belt, and black boots. Over his shirt, he wore a white sweatshirt. It seemed like something light to wear considering the snowy weather at the moment, but with Naruto's chakra and Kumura, Naruto was just fine. At Naruto's feet were two large duffle bags. One containing clothes and other necessities an ordinary person would need when moving, and the other containing various shinobi supplies. To Naruto's left was Jiraiya. he had one small duffle bag at his feet and was currently looking over a scroll. At the wheel of the boat was an elderly man, with long white hair and a beard. He wore some winter clothing and a hat to protect himself from the sun's rays, and from what Naruto could gather upon first getting on the boat, it was moved by a motor. Whether this was a gas-powered motor or an electric powered one he couldn't tell. (Tsunade had explained both to him, but he was still unable to tell the difference by the look of them).

Looking back at the land, which has now gotten much closer, Naruto could now see a port filled with many boats, which is where he assumed, they were heading. From where they were approaching the port, there seemed to be a restaurant attached, but Naruto could not be sure. They pulled over to the port, where the old man proceeded to dock the boat so Naruto and Jiraiya could get off. Each grabbed their respective belongings before thanking the man and existing the boat.

As Naruto followed Jiraiya through the busy streets of Japan, he couldn't help but be amazed by what he was seeing. Busy streets where filled with people, cars, and trains could be seen when they passed. People were walking around, their attention focused on what Naruto could assume were phones. It was early April, meaning that students were currently on break until the new school year started later that month, so the streets were very over-crowded. Naruto also took in the large buildings that he had to look straight up at to see the top. Through the glass Naruto could see that most people were looking at what he thought were computers and came to the conclusion that most of them were working.

While Naruto was amazed by the technology, he couldn't help but feel sad about all of the natural forest that seemed to be gone. Naruto could see a few trees here and there, but they seemed more for decoration and not for the wildlife that once lived there.

Naruto had to push these feeling too the back of his mind though, as he observed his surroundings and followed Jiraiya, looking for anything that would seem abnormal. Naruto followed Jiraiya to the subway station, where he was again impressed by the technological advances here. The way the subway doors opened and closed by themselves, the voice that came over the speaker at the station stating to and where the subway was going, and the speed that the subway was moving without any manpower was very impressive to Naruto. Yes, Naruto was briefed about all of this and told of it before he came over but seeing it all was another thing.

Following Jiraiya further, they both entered the subway, quickly finding seats and sitting down next to each other. They both returned their duffle bags to their feet and started scanning the subway. An automated voice came over the speaker announcing where they were going next, but Naruto could only pick up a couple of words here and there. While the language spoken in the hidden villages was extremely similar to the one spoken in Japan, there were still some differences. Naruto had studied the language and could read and write it fluently but hearing and speaking it was different since he didn't have anyone to practice with when he was learning it. But Naruto was confident that he would pick it up fairly quickly.

Jiraiya lightly tapped Naruto on the shoulder to get his attention, before grabbing his duffle bag and making his way to the doors, Naruto following in a similar fashion. As they exited the station and walked through the streets towards the apartment, Naruto observed and took in everything he could. What the people were wearing, the average speed in which they walked, which light where means what, what their body language said about them, and how they interacted who they were with.

Before Naruto knew it, they had arrived at the apartment complex, where a shinobi could be seen standing outside smocking. He stood at about 6'3 and had dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail that brushed his shoulders. He wore a long black sleeved shirt with a green vest over it. Similar to the Jounin ones, but only in color as this one seemed to be made to keep someone warm rather than store supplies. He had green eyes, and some stubble for a beard and mustache. He wore a Suna Haitai around his arm. Upon seeing us arrive, he stomped out his cigarette and waved at us in greeting.

"Nice to see you again Jiraya-sama." The man said, before bowing in greeting. "Nice you see you again to Haru, and as I've told you before, you can drop the sama." Jiraiya said in greeting, before turning to me. "Naruto," He said. "This is Haru. Haru this is Naruto."

"It is nice to meet you Haru-san." I said, before bowing to him. "It is a pleasure Naruto-san." He said, returning the gesture. "All right," Jiraiya said, clapping his hands together with a smile on his face. "Now that that is out of the way, why don't we make our way into the apartment to hash things out further?"

"Of course, Jiraiya." Haru said, making his way up the stairs, Jiraiya and I following in suite. He led us up to the third floor before unlocking the door with a key and leading us inside the room.

Walking into the room there was a small and narrow hallway before it turned into a bigger living space. To the right was a small kitchenette, with a counter, an island, cabinets, and a fridge, microwave, and stove. the kitchen seemed to have a black, grey, and white color scheme going on, with everything in here being one of the colors. To the left appeared to be a dining room, with a tradition Japanese table and seats. (I'm sorry but I don't know what they're called. I'm talking about the ground level tables and the cushion-things they sit on to eat.) Walking further into the apartment, there was another hallway that led to a bedroom and a bathroom. Straight in front the room expanded into a living room, with a couch, tv, and study desk, along with some other furniture. At the back of the living room to the right there was another hallway that led to another bathroom and bedroom. The walls throughout the entire apartment were an off-set white color with the couch in the living room being a dark brown, almost black color.

Naruto and Jiraiya both settled for putting their belongings at the end of the couch, before sitting down on the couch. Haru took a seat on the floor in front of them on the other side of the glass table that was also in the room. Relaxing into the couch, Jiraiya said "Thank you Haru for doing this again. It has made this whole ordeal so much easier."

"Hey," Haru responded. "I'm here for whatever you need me for Jiraiya. If that means helping to get the gaki situated for his mission, and gathering some information about the area, then that's what I'll do. It was really no trouble at all."

"Now," Haru said, glancing at his watch. "It is already 5 o'clock and I know you both have had a long day trying to get over here, especially the gaki with all of the information he has had to take in over here already. It really is a cultural shock. The fridge is already stocked with food, so I'll go ahead and make something while you two shower and settle into your rooms. Then, after we eat, we can catch the gaki up on the news and the heroes here, how it all runs. Then, I'll tell both of you the newest and most popular stuff that's been going on here, and maybe we can watch a bit of the news and call it a night. I'll come back here tomorrow, say around 7:30? We can get the gaki's records and papers sorted out, go into further detail about how things work around here, each hero, and other general things about the society. The day after that we can focus more on the mission and who he is going to interact with. That sound good to the both of you?"

Both Naruto and Jiraiya shook their heads, not seeing anything wrong with the plan that was set out. So, Naruto and Jiraiya grabbed their duffle bags and continued to the bedrooms, Jiraiya taking the one in the back of the house and Naruto taking the one closer to the kitchen, as Haru made his way into the kitchen to prepare the meal for them. It may have seemed like a rather calm night, but Naruto knew it was going to be long for him.

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**A/N: What did you think of this chapter? I know it is still early in the series, but who should Naruto end up with? Someone from U.A. or someone from the hidden villages? What do y'all think of Haru? I have in mind for him to be more of a temporary character, but did you guys want him to remain constant throughout the series? Did you want just glimpses of him here and there, or for him to just leave when Naruto has gotten used to living in Japan?**

**Updated: 5/8/20**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story.**

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_Naruto and Shikamaru sat in the middle of training ground 7, both breathing heavy from the sparring match that had taken place not even 5 minutes ago. It had now been a month since the failed attempt to bring Sasuke back and both boys felt the need to critique their skills and improve on them. "This isn't helping." Naruto said, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two. "We're just doing the same things as before; we're not improving and that's what we need to do."_

_"__We could always talk to Gai-sensei." Shikamaru responded, after a few moments of silence. "He could watch us spare and set up a new training schedule for each of us. In fact, he would probably be more than happy to do so. He'll probably start yelling about the 'flames of youth that burn brightly in each of us' as soon as we get there."_

_"__True," Naruto responded after a moment. "We would just have to make sure that he doesn't train us like he does Lee. I love training, but not as much as those two."_

_"__It would be too troublesome to have a training schedule like them. I won't let it get that far. We can head over and ask him tomorrow. I don't think he has a team meeting and it would be too troublesome to go now." Shikamaru said back to Naruto, reaching into his pocket for his packet of cigarettes. _

_They both laid there for the rest of the day, looking at the evening sky, smoking, and enjoying the presence of the other person. A war was going on, but they were both content to sit there for one day without any of their worries._

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Naruto woke his sleep at five in the morning and proceeded to scan the room for anything unusual. A habit that he had developed when he was younger. After confirming that there was no immediate threat or anything abnormal, he proceeded to fall to the floor and do his morning stretches as he thought about what he needed to do for the day. _"I need to make breakfast for Jiraiya and I after this. I should probably look over the files that Haru-san had given us last week one last time to make sure I know everything. The rest of the day can be spent sparring with Jiraiya and grocery shopping. I also need to write my report to Tsunade later." _After Naruto mentally confirmed with himself that this was all he needed to do for the day, Naruto finished up his morning stretches and headed into the kitchen to start a, surprisingly nutritious, breakfast. Today, he decided on white rice and eggs. A simple and light breakfast for the day.

After Naruto had finished cooking the eggs and was waiting for the rice cooker to be done, he brought out the files that Haru-san had left with them last week and looked over them.

_Name: Todoroki, Shoto_

_Age: 15_

_Sex: Male_

_Height: 176cm (5"7')_

_Quirk: Half cold half hot_

Naruto continued to read over the rest of the file, mainly making sure that he had already memorized it. The files that Haru-san had left were of the kids that had already been accepted into the U.A. hero course through recommendation. By the time that Naruto had finished scanning through half of the files, the rice was done cooking. Making a plate for both him and Jiraiya and him, he moved over to the counter to continue looking over the rest of the files.

Half an hour later, as Naruto was doing the dishes, Jiraiya emerged from his room and made his way over to the table where his plate was. By the time he was done eating, Naruto was just finishing up the dishes. "Today," Jiraiya said, talking to Naruto for the first time this morning, "we need to evaluate your skill level. We've been here for a week already with all of the paperwork out of the way. Your chakra should be getting used to the new environment and your body should be good as well. Just because this is a long-term mission does not mean you can start slacking Naruto. Today we can spare and do chakra exercises to see where you are. Tomorrow I will write you up a new training schedule. The rest of the week we can start working towards the entrance exams and how much you can use, and nail when to look fatigued. We can also continue to scout the area and get you caught up on pop-culture here. Sound good?"

"Perfect." Naruto said to Jiraiya. "Just let me get changed and we can get started."

* * *

Naruto had sparred with Jiraiya in just about every single aspect of his shinobi training. They had sparred for a couple of hours and it was now four in the afternoon and Naruto was picking up the groceries. He was currently debating how many instant ramen packets he could pick up before Jiraiya got mad at him, when he spotted one his main targets for the mission across the grocery story. Izuku Midoriya. He was there with who Naruto quickly identified as his mother, you had to be blind to not see the similarities between the two. Naruto looked back down at the ramen packets before they could notice his staring, but he continued to watch them out of the corner of his eye. Naruto watched as Izuku's mother spotted him before nudging Izuku. They quickly got into a small argument before heading in Naruto's direction. If Naruto had to guess, the argument would have been about coming over to say hi to him. Naruto could have listened in if he wanted to, but he decided against it. It wasn't a heated argument and there was no immediate threat. He wanted to get the mission done as quickly as possible, but he didn't want to do anything that was unnecessary.

"Um…h-hi." Naruto lifted his head up, to see Izuku and his mother standing in front of him. "My name is Midoriya Izuku and this is my mother," At this, Izuku took a pause to point at his mother, again as if anyone needed any indication knowing that they were mother and son. "We've seen you a couple of times around the apartment complex with your grandfather, a-and we just wanted to take his time to welcome you to the area."

"Oh," Naruto responded, tilting his head a little bit too the side. "Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto and the other guy's name is Jiraiya."

"Well Uzumaki-san," Izuku's mother said, "we hope to see more of the both of you. My son here has been busy training to get into U.A. but I'm sure the two of you can hang out sometime if you were interested."

"What I coincidence Midoriya-san." Naruto said in response, "I am also training to get into U.A. it is actually the original reason that Jiraiya and I moved out here in the first place."

"R-Really?" Izuku asked, joining in on the conversation. "Yes." Naruto told him. "Well, maybe the two of you can train together sometime. In the meantime, Uzumaki-san, we welcome you and Jiraiya-san to the area. Enjoy the rest of your shopping trip. We will three doors down from you two if you ever need anything."

"Thank you, Midoriya-san, and please," at this Naruto bowed to both Izuku and his mother. "Take care of Jiraiya and I." With that, Naruto stood up, turned around, and started to walk out of the isle, turning around only to wave to the pair before disappearing from eyesight.

* * *

As Naruto walked home from the grocery store, he pondered about what happened between him and Izuku at the grocery store. Considering that the U.A. entrance exams were a week away; he would probably not be able to hang out with Izuku or his mother before then. However, after the entrance exams was a different story. It would be good to become acquaintances with Izuku before the school year started if he wanted to be trusted by Izuku. While be-friending people when on missions like was usually forbidden, if Naruto was going to be posing as a student, he would need to befriend them. It would also help give Naruto a solid ali if anyone questioned him about the summer. With these thoughts in mind, Naruto unlocked the door to his apartment and started to unload the groceries.

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**A/N: What did y'all think of this chapter? When should Shikamaru come into the story? Who should Naruto befriend at U.A.? Who should Naruto end up with later in the series?**

**Updated: 5/8/20**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who followed and favorited this story, as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

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_"__So," Naruto asked, walking through the forest with Shikamaru at his side. "Who do you think will become a chunin first out of the two of us?" _

_"__Out of the two of us? Probably you." Shikamaru responded. "Really?" Surprise was evident in Naruto's tone and a disbelieving look came across his face "You really think that? I might have fought more than you, but you made the smarter decision backing out of the competition where you knew the person was above your skill level. Or at least, the skills you're allowed to show." Naruto added as an afterthought. "That may be true, but you showed determination, as well as your stubbornness when not backing out of fight you'd gotten yourself into. Besides, the third loves you and he'll definitely want to promote you officially. And if Sasuke moves in ranks, so do we. And we both know that the council you never allow Sasuke to not move up the ranks." _

_"__That's true." Naruto said before allowing the silence to engulf the both of them as they continued their stroll around the forest, both reminiscing about what had just recently taken place in the exams._

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Ironically, Naruto saw Izuku on his way to the entrance exams, and they decided to walk together. While they never got the chance to train together, they both remained friendly to each other and had the occasional conversation when they saw one another. Neither talked much though, Naruto decided to leave Izuku to his muttering as soon as they started walking together, Izuku never stopping even when he lifted a hand in greeting.

When they both arrive at the U.A. grounds, Naruto noticed that Izuku seemed to become more and more nervous as the mindless chattering went on around them. Keeping a blank look on his face, Naruto left Izuku and started walking around sizing up his completion. Naruto knew, especially from personal experience, that you should never judge a book by its cover. However, Naruto wanted to see how much power he thought he was going to have to use, and then how much he would actually use (a gauge to see how much his shinobi training has been paying off and to critique what needs to be fixed, courtesy of Jiraiya.)

Naruto then turned around when he felt something stirring between everyone. He then saw a blond kid with blood red eyes and a grumpy face marching his way inside the building, and everyone was muttering around him. _"Is that the sludge villain kid?" _

_"__Yeah I think it is."_

_"__What was his name again?"_

_"__I think Bakugou was his name."_

_'__Great.' Naruto thought to himself. 'I think we have another problem kid on our hands.'_

_'__You could say that again kit.'_

_'__Oh, hey Kurama. How have you been, you haven't spoken up in a while.' _While Naruto still didn't get along the greatest with the fox demon inside of him, they were slowly becoming close and sharing their thoughts openly enough, but they were more acquaintances now, but a friendship was on the way. The fox would occasionally speak up whenever he wasn't napping to give Naruto his insight on what was happening, this doesn't mean it was always useful though. _'I've been fine kit, just trying to get used to this new land still. Both of our chakra systems are still fluctuating and trying to get used to the chakra imbalance from here compared to our home. It shouldn't cause you any problems today, especially with all of the control exercises you've been doing, but it has been taking a toll on me.'_

_'__Don't worry Kurama, Jiraiya said that this should only last a little longer for us before both of our systems sort themselves out.'_ And with that, the mental conversation was up but the connection was still there as Naruto found a seat and waited for the instructions to start.

Soon enough, Present Mic appeared, and Naruto hoped he would start explaining the exams soon. Jiraiya had cut down on his ramen intake and said he could have two bowls tonight if he completes the exam without any suspicion.

"Let's talk about how this practice exam is gonna go down okay?" Present Mic said, as he began the presentation. "Like your application said, today you rockin' boys and girls will be out there conducting mock battles in supper hip urban settings! After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center, sound good? Okay, okay, let's check out your targets. There are three types of faux villains in every battle center. You'll earn points based on their level of difficulty so better choose wisely. Your goal in this trial is to use your quirk to raise your score by shredding these faux villains like a mid-song guitar solo. But, check it! Make sure you're keep'n things heroic. Attacking other examines is a U.A. no-no, ya dig?" Present mic was about to continue on explaining the rules when a blue haired boy with glasses and engines in his legs spoke up.

"Excuse me, sir, but I have a question."

"Hit me!" Is what present mic said in response to the boy. "On the printout, you've listed four types of villains. Not three. With all respect, if this is an error on official U.A. materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students. We expect the best from Japan's most notable high school. A mistake such as this won't do. Additionally, you with the unkempt hair. You've been muttering this entire time. Stop that. If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave. You're distracting the rest of us."

Izuku, now looking the most embarrassed he's ever been, clamped a hand over his mouth and muttered sorry. _'Damn,' Naruto thought to himself. 'That sure as hell is one good way to call someone out. Borderline brutal.' _

Bringing the attention back to himself, Mic settled the crowd down. "All right, all right. Examinee number 7-1-1-1. Thanks for calling in with your request. The fourth villain is worth zero points. That guys just an obstacle we'll be throwing your way. There's one in every battle center. Think of it as a hurdle you should try to avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's…kinda no point. I recommend my listeners try to ignore it and focus on the one's topic the charts."

The blue haired boy, who happened to still be standing, proceeded to bow and told Present Mic, "Thank you very much, Please, continue." before sitting down. "That's all I got for you today. I'll sign off with a little present. A sample of our school motto! As general Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down. 'A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Mn-hm. Now that's a tasty soundbite. You ready to go beyond? Let's hear a Plus Ultra! Good luck! Hope you practiced hitting more than just books!"

Looking down at his card, Naruto saw that he was at battle center C. He left with the crowd, blending in, and tried to find his way to the battle center.

* * *

As Naruto waited outside off his battle ground for the exam to start, he continued making final judgments of the people around him and seeing what he would be competing against. Off to his right, Naruto saw a boy that had a raven head. Something that had put him off a little bit, but it was a dead giveaway of what his quirk was. It had something to do with birds. Whether this gave him bird-like abilities, allowed him to summon them, or anything else related to birds, Naruto was unsure as he had yet to see it in action. On his left. Naruto saw a girl that seemed to resemble a frog. _'Not a toad.' _He thought to himself. _'Calling a frog, a toad is an insult to toads everywhere, Ma and Pa have told me this many times.'_ The girl had her tongue sticking out of her mouth, but not in a weird way that made her seem crazy, and her face had similar characteristics to one of a frogs. Naruto thought that her quirk could be one that age her frog-like abilities, he just wasn't sure which abilities of a frog these would be and how strong they were.

Naruto had to pause his musings however when he heard present mic on the overhead speakers. "Right let's start!" He said. "Get moving!" At this, everyone around him started to look confused as Naruto started to ready himself for the upcoming mock-battle exam. "There are no countdowns in real battles. Run, run, run, listeners! You're wasting airtime here!" With that being said, everyone started to rush into the battlefield at the same time. The battle to get into U.A. had begun.

Running through the battlefield, Naruto observed his surroundings. And he admitted to himself that he had to give his one to the school. He had no clue how much this would cost, but it really did look like some regular old city that you would see in Japan. The stores were completed with clothing items and everything. U.A. really went all out for these mock battles. He was not able to get a closer look inside the buildings before a two-pointer robot came smashing through the side of a store and starred Naruto down.

On his registration forms to get into the school, Naruto had put his quirk down as an energy enhancer, which meant that he would have to be cautious about how we went about destroying the robots. Most students hadn't had much real training, so they would mainly stick to using the same 2 or 3 moves to destroy the robots. For the simple two-pointer, Naruto simply jumped up and smashed it in the face before it had time to react. _'Simple. But the staff are watching, so I cannot take one out as quickly next time.' _Naruto thought to himself, before running further up the street in search for more mock-robot villains.

The next robot that Naruto encountered was a three-pointer. The robot locked his laser eye with him before saying the words "target acquired. An attack is currently commencing." Before his arms started extending and various weapons were pointed at him. Naruto quickly ran at him and ducked under one of his arms that was preparing for an attack. Naruto then grabbed onto the arm and ripped it off the robot's body before punching him in the face like he had done to the previous robot. _'Two down, which one is next?' _ Thought Naruto, before running further into the mock-city.

Naruto had gathered himself 58 points, which he thought would be enough to get him into 1-A, before he felt the ground start to shake. Naruto heard screaming and the sound of people running out of the battle grounds before they looked up and saw the biggest robot he had seen yet. Immediately recognizing this as a zero-pointer, Naruto had contemplated on what to do with himself. He had seen another contestant under some rubble with the robot looking down at him, when it finally clicked in Naruto's mind as to why this robot was thrown into the exam. It was to test people's character. A hero not only destroyed the villains, but they also rescued people from them. It was also there to show that in real-life, there is no score sheet for which villains you take down, as saving everyone should be a hero's top priority, not the score at the end of the battle.

"Two minutes left!" Naruto heard present mic say over the speakers as he debated on what to do. Naruto knew that saving the student under the rubble from the robot would cause unnecessary attention to himself that could interfere with the mission, but Naruto did not think he could live with himself if he just ran in the opposite direction when no one else was helping even if it was an exam and heroes were watching. He was about to rush in and save the fellow examinee himself, when he saw another person running in to save the day. It was then when Naruto turned around and started to run with the crowd in the opposite direction. Naruto however did take one final glance over his shoulder and saw that the robot was being destroyed. Naruto started to run faster towards the exit.

"And that's it. Times up!" Present mic announced this over the speakers before everyone immediately came to a halt. Causing Naruto to almost crash into the person in front of him. Almost. He is a shinobi after all.

* * *

After the exams were over, Naruto waited outside of the gates for Izuku for an hour, but he never showed up. Naruto figured that he got injured but wanted to double check. Sneaking back onto the campus and into the infirmary, which wasn't terribly difficult to do since he had been studying the alarm systems and structure of U.A. since he had arrived, he looked through the door to see Izuku laying down on one of the beds, sleeping. He did, however, look fine so Naruto began the journey back to his apartment.

* * *

**A/N: So what did y'all think of this chapter? I tried t make it longer per request but I hope it isn't too long for y'all. Continue to tell me when you think Shikamaru should enter this story, as well as who you think Naruto should end up with later in the story. Would y'all be interested in a poll for who Naruto should end up with or no? And who should Naruto befriend in class 1-A later?**

**Updated: 5/8/20**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who have followed and favorited this story. As well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

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_"Naruto," Turning around from where he was sitting on the couch going through the history of this world, Naruto saw Jiraiya standing in front of the door with an envelope in his right hand stretched out to him. "Your letter from the school is here." Naruto gave him a confused look before he realized what he was saying. He was still trying to understand everything about this world that I had completely forgot about the letter from the school. _

_Walking over to him, Naruto grabbed the letter from his hand and returned to his spot on the couch. Nothing too fancy about it aside from the wax seal that kept the envelope closed. Opening it, Naruto saw that there was no letter inside, only a small circular device. "What…" he whispered quietly to himself. This was not something he had come across yet in my studies. Holding the small device in the flat of my palm, he pressed the center of it with my other hand. Suddenly, a smaller, less solid version of All Might appeared in the center of the device, scaring him and causing him to jump and the small device to land on the couch cushion in front of him. _

_"I am here as a projection!" The projection All Might yelled at him. "Actually," continued projection All Might after a small pause, "I came to this town to work at U.A. You have passed both the written and practical exam! However, you did not earn any rescue points. You see, this exam was not graded only on villain points! How can you call yourself a hero when you don't save others? There were also rescue points in this exam! But you did not get any of these. Despite this, you have still earned yourself a spot in class 1-A! Naruto Uzumaki, 58 points! You pass! Welcome, young Uzumaki, to your Hero Academia!" _

_After that was said, the projection turned off, leaving a mildly confused Naruto in its wake. Naruto had written down the name's scene on the scoreboard of people he assumed would be his classmates. He would have to start researching these people, and congratulate Izuku on making it in. But Naruto was still confused about how All Might had appeared as a projection. _

_"I'll give Haru a call," Said Jiraiya from behind Naruto. He was leaned against the couch, having been paying attention to the All Might Projection. "Hopefully he can help us get some information on your classmates." At this, Jiraiya started to walk away, already dialing Haru's number before pausing. He made his way back to Naruto before placing his hand on top of his head and rubbed it affectionally "Rank 10…right in the middle…good job kid." He flashed Naruto a warm and genuine smile before turning around and walking into the other room. _

_Naruto turned back around so his back was to the back of the couch again before smiling and shaking his head. He then picked his book back up with the intention of continuing to read about the history of this world. But before he could do that, he heard another voice in his head. 'Yeah what that old fool said, good job kid. You managed to not fuck something up for once.' Laughing lightly at what Kurama said, Naruto returned to his reading._

* * *

Naruto continued walking towards U.A. alone. He was hoping to see Izuku on the way there. He figured that he had put off getting to know the boy for too long. While Naruto knew that he shouldn't make any personal connections, he wanted to be acquaintances with Izuku. It was going to become inventible, they lived in the same apartment complex, were in the same class, and it would probably be like that for the next three years. He wasn't trying to form strong friendships with anyone, but he would need to get to know them.

Finally reaching the U.A. campus, Naruto made his way towards class 1-A. however, the corridors seemed oddly empty to him. Double checking the time on his phone, Naruto was able to confirm with himself that he was, in fact, on time to class. Turning down the last hallway that would lead him to his classroom, Naruto saw a girl standing outside the door. He immediately recognized her as Uraraka Ochako. Remembering that her file said she was a very friendly and open-minded person; Naruto made his way over. He also spotted Izuku standing in the doorway, and the kid that interrupted Present Mic during his speech at the entrance exams. If Naruto remembered correctly, and because of his ANBU training he knew he did, he knew that his was Iida Tenya. While he could be stuck up at times, Iida generally had a respect for his classmates that were dedicated and followed the rules.

Having reached his classmates but realizing that they had yet to sense him, Naruto decided to wave and speak up. "Hey guys! You all apart of class 1-A too?" He asked. "Yeah! We were just talking about the entrance exams! My name is Uraraka Ochako!" Uraraka said in response to Naruto, now that he had the trio's attention. "Nice to meet you all! My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" After saying this, Naruto threw a casual peace sign their way with his left hand while scratching the back of his head with his right. He also gave them an easy-going smile. "Good morning! I am from Somei Private Academy! My name is Iida Tenya! It is a pleasure to meet you Uzumaki-san!"

Before Naruto had the chance to reply, a monotone voice spoke up from behind the four of them. "Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends." Glancing down at the ground, Naruto realized that the yellow caterpillar in the center of the floor was their homeroom teacher Aizawa, Shouta. Also known as the pro-hero Eraserhead. He was known for his zero-tolerance policy of any misconduct as a teacher and was quick to expel students. He also took a page out of the shinobi handbook as he generally encouraged his students to look underneath the underneath, despite never outright telling them this. "This is the hero course." Aizawa-sensei continued. He then proceeded to unzip his sleeping bag and climb out of it, but not before finishing a juice pouch. "Okay. It took eight seconds before you were quiet. Time is limited. You kids are not rational enough." After he said this, Naruto could both hear and see the shock on his classmates faces as they all came to the conclusion that this was their teacher. "I am your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Nice to meet you." Another wave of shock went around the classroom as the rest of Naruto's classmates figured out what was going on. "It's kind of sudden but put this on and go out onto the field." Aizawa-sensei then pulled out what Naruto assumed was the gym uniform for this school, as he held in his hand a simple track suit with the school colors on it and the letters U.A.

* * *

Standing out on the training field, Naruto was able to come to the conclusion that everyone was confused by what their homeroom teacher was doing when they all yelled back at him what he had just said. _'Great observation their kit. If the shinobi thing doesn't work out, maybe you can become a detective in this land.'_ Ignoring what Kumara had just said to him, Naruto focused on what Ochako was saying. "What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" With his back turned away from the class, Aizawa answered the question. "If you're going to become a hero you don't have time for such leisurely events. U.A.'s selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run their classes. You kids have been doing these since junior high too, right? Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your quirks. The country still uses averages taken from results from students not using their quirks. It's not rational. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating. Bakugou, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right? In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?"

"67 meters." Replied Bakugou, without making eye contact with the teacher. "Try doing it with your quirk." Aizawa said. From what Naruto had read about the teen, he was not one to back down from a challenge. So, Bakugou walked over to the circle without hesitation, and Aizawa continued explaining the rules. "You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle. Hurry up. Give it all you've got." Hearing this, Bakugou started stretching his arms out, preparing to throw the ball as far as his body would allow him. Bakugou took the ball from Aizawa, activated his quirk, explosion, and screamed "DIE!" as he threw the ball. _'Die…? That seems a little intense.' _Naruto thought, as he watched the ball fly away.

"Know your maximum first. That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero." Aizawa said, before revealing Bakugou's distance to everyone. The class screamed in shock as they saw the number 705 flash across the screen. While this score did not seem impressive to Naruto, he put on a show to blend in with the rest of the students. One kid in the back, who Naruto identified as Kaminari Denki had a hard time believing he threw the ball that hard. "705 meters? Seriously?"

"What's this? It looks fun!" Piped up another classmate of Naruto's. He was able to identify her as Mina Ashido said. "We can use our quirk as much as we want! As expected from the hero course!" This was spoken by Sero Hanta.

"It looks fun, huh." Aizawa said, effectively raining on the classes parade. "You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time? All right. Whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished with expulsion." Aizawa finished this statement with an odd smile on his face. "Huh?!" The entire class screamed, upon hearing what their teacher said. _'Interesting way to motivate everyone.' _Naruto thought to himself. _'I don't doubt the fact that his man will expel anyone if he didn't think they had potential. But I also think that this is his way of getting everyone to take this assessment seriously. It is the only way he can see everyone's true potential at their best if everyone is fighting to stay in the class. Except, unlike what Kakashi-sensei had us do, and work together, this assessment is every man for themselves. Very Interesting indeed.'_

"We're free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students. Welcome to U.A.'s hero course!" Aizawa continued, before Ochako spoke up once again. "Last place will be expelled? But it's the first day of school! No, even if it wasn't the first day of school, this is too unfair!" _'Unfair? I knew these kids lived away from the natural horrors of the world, but this makes it seem like she was raised in bubble wrap. I would hate to be the one to tell her that the world is never fair to people.'_ Naruto was brought out of his thoughts by his sensei's response. "Natural disasters, big accidents, and selfish villains. Calamities whose time or place cannot be predicted. Japan is covered with unfairness. Heroes are the ones who reverse those situations. If you wanted to go talk with your friends at Mickey D's after school, then too bad. For the next three years U.A. will do all it can to give you one hardship after another. Go beyond. Plus Ultra. Overcome it with all you've got." Aizawa's speech seemed to inspire all of the students as Naruto look at the determination that was shown through some of their eyes. "All right. Demonstration's over. The real thing starts now."

* * *

If Naruto was being honest, the quirk assessment test was harder than he thought it was going to be. Not in terms of his skill, as he knew he could beat everyone in the building at these tests and still have energy to spare. But rather, it was trying to determine where he needed to score. Yes, he knew all of his classmates' quirks, but when most of the tests were completed in pairs and Naruto had no idea if he was going to compete next or not, it was hard to hold back enough to end up in the middle but fall far behind. Naruto knew that if worst came to worst and he fell behind he could always do a little bit better on the next test, but he honestly wanted to challenge his skill to see if he knew how hard to push. And Naruto had to say he wasn't disappointed in himself.

After the whole baseball throwing fiasco with Izuku, Aizawa, and Bakugou (who reminded Naruto of a certain someone back home…but he refused to continue the thought for fear of jinxing it and it becomes true) the results of the quirk assessment test were revealed. Naruto ended up in ninth place, beating the person behind him by one point. All-in-all Naruto was pretty proud of himself for almost coming in the middle of the class again.

"By the way," Aizawa said. "I was lying about the explosion." If Naruto could laugh, he would have been barking in this situation. He could feel the disbelief of his classmates at this statement as they all stared blankly at Aizawa. "It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits go your quirks." At this, Naruto's classmates started screaming at their sensei. Once again, Naruto had to fight the urge to laugh at everyone and act like them.

"Of course that was a lie." Turning towards the voice, Naruto saw that Yaoyorozu, Momo speaking. Based on her IQ levels, Naruto was not surprised to learn that she figured out the true meaning of the test. "It should've been obvious if you just thought it through." She continued. His classmates stared at her with shocked expressions, and Naruto had a hard time fighting the urge to roll on the floor with laughter. "With that, we're done here." Said Aizawa, bringing the classes attention back to him. "There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom. So when we get back, look over them." He then proceeded to walk over to Izuku and hand him a paper. "Midoriya, have the old lady in the office fix you up. Tomorrow will be packed with even more rigorous tests. Prepare yourself." And with that being said, Aizawa-sensei continued on his way.

* * *

Walking out the front entrance of the school and starting his way home, Naruto noticed Izuku, Ochako, and Iida in front of him. But, instead of making friendly conversation with them, he observed them from afar. He had his suspicions about Izuku. While Naruto had already ruled out the possibility of him being a villain or a traitor from loose observations of him, something about his quirk didn't add up. Everyone unlocked their powers at the age of four here, so why did it seem like Izuku had just unlocked his power? And even if his power had just developed, it would only happen at such a late age during a very traumatic event. If so, then what happened to Izuku?

Naruto had also heard the conversation between Aizawa-sensei and All Might. He had also noticed All Might observing them, Naruto had no doubt that there was some sort of relationship between them. What type of relationship this was, it was too early for him to say. But Naruto was almost positive that All Might had given Izuku One-For-All. He just needed more evidence to confirm this.

While pondering on these thoughts, Naruto changed his direction so he was taking the long way home. He didn't want the group to turn around and find him. Naruto knew that he would have much to tell Jiraiya tonight, and a lengthy report for Tusande.

* * *

**A/N: We're finally at the point in this story were I can follow the anime! What did y'all think of this chapter? Who do you think that Naruto should befriend in class 1-A? Do y'all want to see interactions between Naruto and teachers at 1-A? When should Shikamaru join the story? And who should Naruto end up with later?**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who has followed and favorited this story, as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Before the story starts, I wanted to answer some of the question's you guys have been asking. When I first started writing, I didn't get asked many questions but as the story has progressed, you guys are asking more and more questions so I figured I would answer some of them and address some of the concerns y'all have. **

**Ok so a bunch of people have been shocked by the OOCness of Naruto in this story. Which is true, Naruto is very OOC here, But I feel like because he grew up a little different in this story, he would act a little different. His friends (aside from Shikamaru) still think that he is the same old Naruto from the anime/manga because of the mask that he has been wearing around them. And while Naruto is on a mission so he is still acting a little differently than his original self, he is no longer wearing the same mask that he was wearing in the hidden villages. Because Naruto became an ANBU at such a young age, he learned to put the mission first at all costs. That's why in this story we don't see the same selfless Naruto that we saw in the original anime/manga. Don't worry though! We will see this side of Naruto soon enough! I just feel like he needs to form a stronger relationship with his classmates before he decides to abandon the mission to show everyone that side of him. **

**As for Shikamaru, yes, he is going to be a helping hand in gathering information in the BNHA world. Until a war really breaks out, most if not all, characters brought over from the hidden villages are just integrating themselves into the BNHA society and gathering information. **

**Some people have also been asking if Naruto is ever going to reveal his true powers. Yes, I don't have it all planned out yet but I do want Naruto to reveal his power to his friends from 1-A, as well as his friends from his home. **

**A lot of you guys are also asking if I am continuing the story. Yes, I am continuing the story, I never planned on stopping. I usually update the story about once a month because I'm super busy with school, but because summer is approaching (My last week is the last week of May) and because of everything with the virus, updates may come sooner. Maybe once every two weeks, but I cannot promise anything yet. The reason why I wasn't able to update last month is because I had a lot of family drama going on. That's also why this chapter is coming to you just a week after the last one was uploaded.**

**Also a huge thanks to everyone for leaving all of the positive reviews! It makes everything worth doing!**

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_"Don't get me wrong Shikamaru, I am happy that you are no longer sleeping the entire day away, but can you tell me why we are up at 3 a.m.? Jiraiya doesn't want to leave until 5 a.m. and I already have everything packed…so why are we up so early?" Shikamaru shook his head and sighed, looking at Naruto. "I wanted to say bye to you personally, without our friends lurking in the corners. Plus, we don't know when I'm going to be joining you on this mission, so I want to enjoy some time alone with you before you leave. And don't even try to tell me you won't feel the same way, Naruto. We both know as soon as you leave those gates, you're going to be missing me. Besides, my parents will probably make their way in here around 4 a.m. to say goodbye themselves and spend some time with you before our friends come."_

_"Awwwww Shikamaruuuuuu who knew you could be such a romantic guy." Naruto said, looking at Shikamaru sweetly, but also in a teasing way. Slapping him lightly across the face and pushing him back onto his bed, Shikamaru opened the window next to the bed and lit a cigarette, one of the last that he would be sharing with Naruto for a while. Before Shikamaru had a chance to take a hit from the cigarette, Naruto took it out of his mouth and took a drag for himself. Shikamaru felt himself get annoyed slightly and thought that maybe having Naruto gone for a while wouldn't be all that bad if it meant this stopped happening. _

_Deep down, Shikamaru knew that he didn't mean that. He would miss everything about Naruto, even his cigarette stealing tendencies. _

* * *

Class 1-A sat in their seats anxiously waiting for their next class to begin. The entire morning had been boring classes like English, taught by pro-heroes who, despite being pros, couldn't make the regular classes any more interesting.

However, now that it was the afternoon, the class had a hero course that was being taught by All-Might. Thus, the students were waiting anxiously for the teacher to come in, when they heard him.

"I am…coming through the door like a normal person!" Said All Might, throwing the door open and sticking a pose as he entered the classroom. His presence had an instant effect on the students, as the all gasped at his arrival. "It's All Might!" Said Kaminari. "

Wow, he really is a teacher!" Said Kirishima.

"That costume is from the Silver Age, isn't it?" Asked Asui.

"Its style is so different. It's giving me goose bumps." Said Ojiro.

"I teach Hero Basic Training." Said All Might, stopping the conversations from around the room. "It is a subject where you train in different ways you learn the basics of being a hero. You'll take the most units of this subject! Let's get right into it! We'll be doing combat training today! And to go with that are these!" After saying this, compartments from the side of the room began to open up, each with big green numbers on it. "Costumes made based on your quirk registrations and requests you sent in before school started."

Hearing this, Naruto's classmates became very excited, quickly breaking into side conversations. "After you change, gather in Ground Beta!" All Might continued, with an excited "Yes sir!" from the class.

* * *

In the boys dressing room, everyone was ecstatic and still talking about how excited they were to wear their costumes.

Not really involved in a conversation with anyone, Naruto opened the box that had his hero costume in it and saw… something that he did not ask for. While both Naruto and Jiraiya knew that hero costumes were supposed to be flashy, they still didn't want him standing out. Especially with the type of training that he had received, they agreed that they would request something basic for his hero costume.

Naruto had requested a simple, light armor that would go under a long-sleeved fishnet shirt. On top of that, Naruto would wear an orange long sleeved shirt. He also requested black cargo pants and black military boots with orange accents.

What Naruto had received, however, was not what he asked for. Just by looking at all of the colors on the clothing, Naruto knew that U.A. had decided to add their own touch to his costume. Luckily, they had gotten the pants and boots right. So, Naruto put those on first. Looking through what was left in the box, Naruto saw that they did, in fact, give him armor and a fishnet shirt, but not the shirt he asked for. Lucky for Naruto, he had an extra orange shirt in his bag that he kept in case something happened.

Naruto began taking off his uniform and tried to put on his costume quickly, without being too quick, because of all of the scares across his abdomen. He could use a genjutsu, but to many things could go wrong with that. If he forgot to cast it one day, he would have no way to explain to his classmates how he suddenly got year-old scars. And if someone saw him casting it, he would have a lot of explain to do. Focusing back on his classmates, he saw that they were all to lost thinking about their own costume to even notice Naruto in the room. He did catch eyes with one other person as he was changing though. This was none other than Todoroki Shoto. From his file, Naruto knew that his father abused him and used him as a means to complete his own dreams. This was the one person Naruto wished didn't see his scars. While Naruto did have excuses for the reasons behind his scars, Todoroki seemed like the type to speculate and gather evidence before approaching and asking for answers. It was only day two of being in school and Naruto already wished for this to be over…or for Shikamaru to be here at the least.

* * *

"They say the clothes make the man, young men and ladies. Be fully aware…from now on…you are heroes!" This is the first thing Naruto hears when stepping out onto Ground Beta with his classmates. The statement is, naturally, spoken by All Might in what Naruto assumes is an attempt to encourage everyone. "This is great everyone," He continues, "You all look cool! Now, shall we begin, you zygotes? It's time for training!"

"Sir!" This is spoken by Iida who, in Naruto's opinion, has one of the more inconvenient costumes. "This is a battle center from the entrance exam, so will we be conducting urban battles again?" Iida asked, to which All Might quickly replied,

"No. We're going to move ahead two steps!" After saying this, All Might held out two fingers in his hand, enforcing what he had just said. "Most of the time fighting villains takes place outside. But, if you look at the total numbers, atrocious villains appear indoors at a higher rate. Imprisonment, house arrest, backroom deals, in this society filled with heroes truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows! For this class, you'll be split into villains and heroes and fight two-on-two indoor battles. This is a real battle to understand what will become of training. However, the key this time is that there's no robot you can just beat up."

This is when Yaoyorozu spoke up. "How will wins and losses be determined?" This was immediately followed by Bakugou saying, "Can we beat them up anyway?" '

_I can almost confirm it now…Bakugou is like an angry version of him…' _Naruto thought to himself. But his thoughts were cut off by Ochako speaking.

"Will the punishment be expulsion like with Aizawa-sensei?" Yet another question was asked, this time by Iida.

"How shall we split up?"

_'Dear Kami, how many questions can these kids ask?' _This though was cut off by Aoyama speaking out. "Isn't this cape crazy?"

"I'll answer all your questions!" Said All Might, bringing the attention back to him. _'I feel you All Might, I really don't know how these people can ask all these questions before waiting for you to finish instead of interrupting.' _Thought Naruto, thinking back to all the times Tsunade hit him over the head for talking before she was done.

"Now listen here," said All Might, pulling out a script. "The situation is the villains have a hidden nuclear weapon somewhere in their hideout. The heroes are trying to dispose of that. The heroes need to catch the villains or get the nuclear weapon back in the allotted time. The villains need to protect the nuclear weapon for the whole time or catch the heroes. Teams and opponents will be determined by drowning lots!" All Might finished, holding up a box with the word "lots" written across it.

After drawing lots, Naruto saw that he was on a team with Todoroki. _'Great…this day will just keep on getting better for me.' _Naruto said to himself. All Might then pulled out a hero and villain team, that put Bakugou and Izuku against each other _'You gotta be fucking kidding me-'loud_ laughter soon interrupted Naruto's train of thought. _'Hahahahahahaha oh my god kit I think I'm finally happy being here I can't believe this is happening. Good luck watching this shit show unfold.' _Instead of arguing with the demon, Naruto decided to grimace mentally and turn his attention back to All Might.

"Everyone else, head towards the monitor room." He said, followed by a quick "Yes sir!" from the class.

Once inside the monitor room with the rest of the class, All Might spoke to us. "Okay everyone, you all should think as well." Knowing what All Might was implying, Naruto focused strictly on the monitors, forgetting about the rest of the room. Especially because this was Izuku's battle, and he needed to determine if he had One-For-All or not. He also needed to see how this world trained the anticipated best of the best. From what he had seen so far though, he wasn't getting his hopes up. Just from watching the infiltration, Naruto had seen several mistakes they made in the span of a few seconds.

As they were walking through the building, Bakugou came out through a corner, effectively completing a surprise attack. Naruto had to admit, he didn't see that one coming from Bakugou of all people. He could appreciate the strategy though.

Naruto continued to observe how everyone fought in this simulation, not just Izuku. He also kept a close eye on All Might, who seemed to be paying more attention to the battle and not listening or really noticing the other students in the room with him. When Bakugou set off his explosion with his gauntlets, Naruto saw the flash of concern that went through All Might's body, more so than for a teacher who just met a student an hour ago, or even a hero. And how even after the explosion Bakugou set off, All Might wanted to see how the battle would end, instead of ending the match like a normal teacher would. Almost as if he knew how important this fight was to Izuku. This was all Naruto needed to confirm his theory.

* * *

After going over the results of the first battle, Todoroki and Naruto were next. They would be playing the heroes while Ojiro and Hagakure would be playing the villains. With All Might's go-ahead, the simulation soon began.

Before the battle had started, Todoroki and Naruto had agreed that Naruto would 'enhance' his hearing range to find out where the villains where and then Todoroki would take them down. "One in the hall on the north side of the fourth floor." He said to Todoroki as he stood behind him. "The other is somewhere on the same floor. They're barefoot. My guess is that it would be Hagakure. She's probably coming to ambush and capture us." If Naruto needed to, he could point to the exact spot where Ojiro and Hagakure were standing, but he still had a cover to keep. He couldn't seem to experienced when going through mock battles like this, which is why he also stood in the middle of the hallway and didn't bother to whisper.

"Go outside. It's dangerous." Is all Todoroki said in response before walking ahead of Naruto. "I'm sure our opponents intend to fight a defensive battle," Todoroki continued, before activating the ice part of his quirk and freezing the wall. As well as the floor. "But that does not matter to me." He said, before continuing to freeze the entire building. Seeing as how Todoroki had the situation under control, and not wanting to fight more than what was beyond necessary, Naruto stepped outside to avoid being stuck to the ground along with everyone else. Honestly seeing as it wasn't a real battle and that Naruto would have had to hide his skill anyway, he wasn't bothered by barely doing any of the work. And once he saw Todoroki freeze the entire building, he wasn't that impressed. He knew about the 'intense' training that his father had put him through at a young age, so seeing this wasn't very surprising to Naruto. When Naruto saw that Todoroki lifted the ice from the building with his fire side, he again, wasn't shocked.

As the battles between his classmates continued, Naruto made note of the extent and limitations of their quirks, their fighting style, and how they interacted with each other to work as a team. He made sure to commit this all to memory for his report later.

Once all of the battles were done, All Might concluded the class. "Good work everyone! We didn't have any major injuries other than Young Midoriya either! You guys took this on seriously! You all did a good job for your first training!" All Might said. Asui then spoke up.

"To have such a proper class after Aizawa-sensei's class…it's kind of anticlimactic."

All Might was quick to respond to this statement, exaggerating his movements as usual. "We're free to have proper classes as well! Well then, I must review the results with Young Midoriya! Change and return to the classroom!" And with that said, All Might sped off in the other direction.

_'Hurrying over to see Izuku so soon…' _Naruto thought to himself. _'This is more than enough to confirm everything.' _

* * *

Hearing the classroom door open, Naruto looked over and saw Izuku walking into the classroom. He was planning on walking over and asking Izuku how he was, considering he was in a sling and bandages, only for his classmates to bombard him with questions.

Hearing more commotion, Naruto turned to look in the other direction, only to see Iida yelling at Tokoyami for sitting on the desk.

Hearing the classroom door open yet again, Naruto saw Ochako and Kaminari enter the classroom. Ochako, spotting Izuku almost immediately ran over to ask him how he was. Realizing that Naruto would also get the answer to his questions in the process, he made his way over to be a part of the conversation.

"Oh uh it's because of how much stamina I have and…uh Uraraka more importantly where's Kacchan?" Asked Izuku.

"Oh, well, we tried to stop him but he just went home without saying anything." Ochako said. But before anyone else could say anything, Izuku was sprinting out the door chasing after Bakugou. Sighing loudly, Naruto grabbed his things before giving his attention to the small group that had gathered around Izuku before he left.

"Well, I guess I better go after them. I'll make sure another fight doesn't break out. I live in the same apartment complex as Izuku anyway, so I'll make sure he gets home alright." Naruto said, before turning towards the door and throwing a wave with his hand over his shoulder. He was stopped by Iida though.

"Farewell Uzumaki-san! And thank you for looking after our classmate when we could not."

"Oh," Naruto said, honestly surprised by the last bit of what Iida said. "It's no problem. And please, call me Naruto everyone." And then Naruto was out the door, following Izuku out the school.

Seeing as Izuku and Bakugou were having what seemed to be a private conversation, Naruto decided to hide behind one of the pillars and listen to the conversation going on between the two boys.

"There's one thing I feel like I have to tell you." Said Izuku. "My quirk is something I received from someone else."

_'Oh Kami,_' Naruto thought to himself_. 'I knew without the verbal confession, but this leaves no room for speculation. At least it will get Tsuande-baa-chan if she wants a confession. I'm getting one right now.' _

"Huh?" Asked Bakugou, thoroughly confused. Honestly you can't blame the man. If you didn't know anything about One-For-All then it would seem very weird.

"I can't say who I got it from though!" Izuku stated, shaking a little bit. "I won't say, but it's like a story out of comic books. Except its true. On top of that, I still can't control it properly. It's just a borrowed power that I haven't made my own yet. That's why I tried to beat you without using it. But in the end, I couldn't win and had to rely on it. I've still got a long way to go. That's why, one day, I will make this quirk my own and beat you with my own power!" Izuku said.

"What the hell was that? 'Borrowed power' You're talking nonsense. What are you trying to do? Make me out to be more of a fool than you already have? Huh? What are you trying to say? Today, I lost to you. That's all it was, that's all. As I watched the ice guy, I thought 'I can't beat him!' Damn it! I ended up agreeing with what that ponytail girl said! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Hey, you too, Deku. I'm just…I'm just getting started! You hear? I will become number one! You won't beat me again, bastard."

All Might then ran out the building and started talking to Bakugou. Figuring this was a good time to come out considering everyone was distracted, Naruto approached Izuku. "Hey Izuku!" He said, one hand in the air waving to him, as the other was lazily stuffed inside his pocket.

"Oh Naruto," Izuku said, surprised by his appearance. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just came to make sure that you and Bakugou didn't fight again. Also to make sure that you got home okay. Your mother would kill me if I let you go home alone like this, and so would my grandfather. Looks like All Might beat me to the first point though, huh?" Naruto said, now at Izuku's side where he rested his free hand on Izuku's shoulder.

Looking ahead, we both saw Bakugou walking away leaving a dejected looking All Might in his wake. "Come on Izuku," Naruto said, throwing his arm over both of Izuku's shoulders, guiding him out of the school's campus. "Let's get you home." At that, Izuku looked over to see the warm smile Naruto gave him and smiled a little himself.

"Yeah…let's go home." He said.

* * *

_Dear Tsunade-baa-chan, _

_I realize that I have already sent you the report for the week, but today was a crazy day. On the other scroll, I have left a detailed report on my classmates' limitations when it comes to their quirks, their corporation skills, and their battle tactics. _

_However, what I mainly want to talk about is Izuku Midoriya. As you know, he is suspected to be the inheritor of One-For-All. I can, after today, confirm this theory. Not only did I hear Izuku say this to his childhood friend Bakugou. I was also able to observe the behavior between Izuku and All Might today, and that says it all too. I am beginning to create stronger ties with Izuku as we speak and will continue to the same with his close friends too. _

_I also think that now would be a good time to send Shikamaru over. As I'm sure Jiraiya has already told you, the villains are stirring up something. And with All Might passing down his power, I wouldn't be surprised if All-For-One was behind it. These things seem to always add up like that. I know that we have plenty of spies with the villains, but I don't think we have enough with the heroes. _

_We both know that governments are always corrupt. I think waiting until the next year for Shikamaru to come in as a transfer will be adding him in too late. I think that we should try to secure him a high position with a hero agency. If we need to, we should even bring Sasuke in to use his sharingan on the heroes if we need to. You guys caught him shortly after I left right? I know he betrayed but he would be extremely valuable to this mission if we need him. I don't think we should go for All Might's agency, that might be too obvious. I have heard, however, that the number two hero, Endeavor, has a tendency to fire his employees frequently. _

_Endeavor also doesn't teach at U.A. so, I can keep an eye on U.A. and the students here while Shikamaru keeps an eye on all of the other heroes in the area as well as the day to day stuff going on outside of U.A. _

_And, as I said before, I think Sasuke could be useful to this mission. Once we find the group of villains that All-For-One is working with, I think that he should infiltrate them and become a spy. I know that you won't like the idea of it but think about it. Also, brief Shikamaru on everything and ask him about it. He can probably explain bringing Sasuke in better than I can. But, take it from an ANBU captain prospective, he would be best for this mission and that specific task. _

_I am curious though, what's been going on over there? How have the other Kages been acting? Do you truly believe that all of them will come together to fight a war in this land?  
_

_Write back to me soon, _

_Naruto Uzumaki_

* * *

**A/N: So what did y'all think of this chapter? Shikamaru is finally coming in! It's a little bit different then how I originally planned for him to play into the story, but I hope y'all like what I have planned for him! Continue to tell me who you guys think Naruto should end up with. And do you guys think Sasuke should be a part of this mission too? Let me know if you guys want a poll for who Naruto should end up with. Continue to ask me questions I would love to answer all of them!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who followed and favorited the last chapter. As well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter. **

**As for the person who asked how Sasuke is working for the leaf, he is back there lol, sorry for the confusion! Shortly after Naruto left, the Rookie 9 (excluding Shikamaru) along with Kakashi and Gai went to retrieve him. During this, Sasuke learns from them that Naruto is out on a mission. Thinking about what Naruto said at the valley of the end, along with further convincing from everyone, Sasuke does come back to the leaf. He is on probation for betraying the village, but that will end up getting cut short if Sasuke joins Naruto and Shikamaru on their mission. **

* * *

_"But I thought I wasn't supposed to leave until the start of next year and pose as a transfer student." Shikamaru starred at Tsunade with a confused expression on his face. Naruto had been gone for about two months now, and Shikamaru wasn't afraid to admit that he missed his best friend. Doing ANBU missions just wasn't the same without him, and some of the other members got on his nerves occasionally (more like all the time, he has come very close to bashing his head into the nearest surface more than once). And while Shikamaru loved the rest of his friends in the Rookie 9, it just wasn't the same without Naruto._

_"Yes, that was the original plan." Tsunade said. "But, after talking with Jiraiya, Naruto, and some close contact over there, changes have been made due to unforeseen situations. Jiraiya will come to collect you in two weeks' time, and you will infiltrate a hero agency. Come look at these reports Shikamaru, I have a lot to catch you up on."_

* * *

"Will you tell us about what the Symbol of Peace is like as a teacher?" A female reporter asked Naruto, shoving a microphone in his face. Naruto knew that reporters in this world were very nosy in order to get information back out to the public, so he wasn't surprised that they would bombard students outside of a school campus. Actually, Naruto was certain that the only reason the reporters weren't on the campus is because that they didn't have IDs to get passed the front gates of the school.

Completely ignoring the reporter, Naruto looked around and saw the Izuku and Ochako looked completely flustered from the questions being asked, while Iida had a determined look on his face and was answering the reporters' questions in the most professional manner.

"Hey! I asked you a question!" Said the reporter, looking a little annoyed. "I'm so sorry, but my classmates and I really need to get to class. Unless we want to be late, we won't have time to answer your questions today. Please, excuse me." Naruto said flatly with a blank look on his face, before grabbing Izuku, Ochako, and Iida. He apologized to the reports asking them questions and led the three inside the building to head to class.

"Thank you, Naruto!" Said Ochako once they got inside the building. "I was so confused I had no idea what to say!"

"Yeah, thanks Naruto, that was so embarrassing." Added Izuku, still looking a little flustered as the four started walking to class. "It was no problem, although, I am kind of annoyed by the situation. I get that it's their job to get information and report back to the public, but that just seemed a little excessive. Isn't there an ethical line somewhere that they shouldn't cross? Harassing students on their way to class is a little invasive if you ask me." Naruto said, glaring at the ground a little bit.

"That may be true," Said Iida, starting up with his hand motions. "But the public always has questions about this stuff. Sometimes you can be great at what you do, but not the greatest at teaching it. The public wants to feel like the know All Might, all the different sides go him. I come from a long line of heroes, so I knew how to deal with the public from a young age. Their curiosity is what fuels them. As long as there is a question the press will find an answer to it. What you need to do is stay calm and answer the question as quickly as possible, or politely deny answering the question all together."

"Wow, thanks Iida, we'll keep that in mind next time." Said Ochako, as the four entered the classroom. They didn't have a chance to talk further though, as Aizawa stepped in as soon as they sat down.

"Quiet down everyone." He said, walking towards the podium in the room and bringing the classes attention to him. This time, he was not in his sleeping bag. "Good work on yesterday's combat training. I saw the video and results. Bakugou, you're talented, so don't act like a kid. And Midoriya, you settled it by breaking your arm again huh? You can't keep saying you help it because you can't control your quirk. I don't like saying the same thing over and over. As long as you fix and control the issue there's a lot, you'll be able to do. Feel a sense of urgency, Midoriya. Now, let's get down to homeroom business. Sorry about the late notice, but today, I'll have you…decide on a class representative."

Back at the academy, they did not have class representatives. And from what Naruto had understood, it was more school politics than anything else. He didn't think it was a big deal. He, however, was wrong. As soon as Aizawa finished his sentence, commotion broke out across the classroom.

"I want to be class rep! Pick me!" Kirishima said enthusiastically

"Me too!" Said Kaminari, sounding even more excited than Kaminari

"I want to do it, too." Said Jirou, sounding calmer than her two previous classmates.

"It's a job made for m- "Aoyama was cut off by Ashido exclaiming, "I'll be the leader!"

Bakugou also started saying how he would be class rep, when Iida suddenly cut them off.

"Silence please!" He said. "It is a job with the serious responsibility of leading others. It is not a job for just anyone who wants to do it. It is a calling that requires the trust of those around you. If we want to use democracy to decide on a true leader then we should hold an election to choose one." While Naruto thought that seemed like good idea, everyone else quickly began to protest.

"Why did you suggest that?" Asked Kaminari.

"We haven't known each other for that long." Added Asui.

"If that's the case and everyone votes for themselves…" This was said by Kirishima. But he couldn't finish the thought before Iida explained himself.

"Don't you think that is precisely why whoever receives multiple votes here can truly be considered the most suitable person? What do you think Aizawa-sensei?"

Naruto looked over to see Aizawa still standing at the front of the room, but he was now inside his sleeping bag. "I don't care. As long as you decide before homeroom is over." Aizawa's uncaring voice echoed through the oddly silent classroom. Aizawa then dropped to the floor and fell asleep.

"Thank you very much!" Was the prompt response Iida sent his way. _'What the hell is he thanking him for?'_ Naruto thought to himself. Some people were just too damn polite.

* * *

Once the election was done and over with the results were in. Izuku came in first with three votes while Yaoyorozu came in second with two votes.

"I got three votes!" Izuku exclaimed upon seeing this, shocked that anyone had voted for him. Naruto could see why people had voted for Izuku though, especially after his performance in class, as well as in the entrance exam.

"Why Deku?! Who voted for him?!" Bakugou said this upon hearing what Izuku had said about his votes.

"Well, it's better than voting for you." Sero said to Bakugou, adding fire to the flame.

"What did you say?!" Bakugou yelled, tiny explosions forming in the palms of his hand.

Naruto's attention was drawn away from them when he heard tense whispering coming from Iida. He appeared to be shaking. "I give up, I give up! Zero votes, zero votes! That is only to be expected of a person's calling."

"You voted for someone else, huh?" Asked Yaoyorozu, the pity was clear in her voice.

"But you wanted to do it too. What are you trying to do, Iida?" Asked Sato. Before he could answer, Aizawa spoke at the front of the room.

"Then the class rep is Midoriya, and the deputy class rep will be Yaoyorozu."

"S-S-Seriously? Seriously?" Asked Izuku, clearly still in shock from what happened.

"How vexing." Was Yaoyorozu's only response.

"It might not be too bad." Said Asui.

"After all's said and done, Midoriya can be pretty fired up, anyway." Added Kirishima.

* * *

To say Naruto was disappointed would be a major understatement. He was just barely holding back tears, almost ready to sob in front of everyone in the cafeteria and leave his dignity behind. Despite Naruto putting in a request yesterday, Lunch Rush had not made any ramen. And, when Naruto asked him about it again today, Lunch Rush informed him that he would not be making ramen anytime soon. Naruto glared down at his white rice, as if he could will it to turn into ramen. He was brought out of his depressive state when he noticed another gloomy state right next to him. This aura was coming from none other than Izuku Midoriya. "Even though I've been chosen as class rep, I don't know if I'm qualified for it." He said.

"You are." Said Ochako confidently.

"I think you'll be great at the job Izuku." Said Naruto, showing his support by patting Izuku on the shoulder.

"It'll be fine." Added Iida. "Your courage and judgment at critical moments make you worth following. That is why I voted for you."

"It was you?" Asked Izuku which was followed by Ochako asking her own question.

"But didn't you want to be class rep too, Iida? I mean, you've got glasses and everything."

_'Glasses aren't exactly what make you a leader…' _thought Naruto, sweat dropping at Ochako's statement.

"Wanting to do it and being suitable for it are different issues. I merely did what I judged to be correct." Continued Iida.

"'Merely' that isn't a word you would typically use Iida. Actually, I've been thinking about what you said this morning to us. Are you a rich boy Iida? And which heroes are you related to?" Asked Ochako, not able to hide her curiosity.

"I tried to change how I talk because I didn't want to be called that. I'm the second son, but my older brother is currently a hero. You know the Turbo Hero, Ingenium? He's my brother."

"Of course!" Izuku immediately yelled, fanboying over Iida's brother. "He's a really popular hero who has 65 sidekicks working at his Tokyo agency! It's amazing that he's your brother!"

"Thanks, he is a polite and likeable hero who follows the rules. I set my sights on being a hero because I want to be like my brother. However, I think it is still too soon for me to lead others. Unlike me, Midoriya realized the point of the practical portion of the entrance exam so he is more suitable for the job." Said Iida, smiling at the three of them.

"Wow Iida, this might be the first time I've seen you smile!" Said Ochako, in awe about how much Iida admired his older brother.

"Look Izuku," Said Naruto, turning to face Izuku. "Sometimes, the best leaders are the ones that don't want the job. Most of the time, people want to lead for all the wrong reasons. Power, money, fame, control, you name it. The true leaders are the people who are willing to risk everything and put themselves in harm's way to protect others. You made it into the hero course on just rescue points, so everyone knows that you are that type of person. That's why three people voted for you man!" Naruto then clapped Izuku on the back of his shoulder and smiled at him. Izuku got a look of shock of shock on his face, before it turned into a look of determination. He was getting ready to respond when an alarm sounded.

"There has been a level three security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly." A calm female voice said over the U.A. speaker.

Turning to the guy sitting next to him, Iida asked, "What's a level three security breach?"

"It means someone is trespassing on school grounds! I've never seen anything like this in the three years I've been here! You should hurry too!" He said in a panicked voice, before getting up and running.

Suddenly, everyone was at the lunch doors trying to get out, but with so many people trying to get out at once, it wasn't working. Naruto knew of the extreme security measure here, as he had studied them for hours, so he knew that the simple reporters outside could not have done this. Listening carefully, Naruto tried to find footsteps that didn't sound rushed, but relaxed and calculated, as if the person were on a mission and knew exactly where to go.

Hearing steps like this two floors up, Naruto looked around before spotting a different set of doors to the cafeteria that lead to the stairs. Moving carefully, Naruto positioned himself to get thrown out of the crowd. Seeing as everyone was too concerned with getting out, Naruto made his way to the back doors and slipped out of the room with ease.

Moving quickly, but still being cautious of his surroundings, Naruto silently climbed up the two flights of stairs. Listening again for the footsteps, Naruto could hear them leaving a room. Walking towards them, but remaining in the shadows, Naruto saw a man that looked to be about five foot five and in his early twenties.

The man had light blue hair, and a hand covering his face. He also saw the man stick a USB inside his pocket. He appeared to be heading towards the exit. Sneaking into the room the man had just come out of, Naruto saw one of the computers was still on.

Still listening to make sure that the man was leaving, Naruto woke the computer up to see what the man had copied onto the USB. After looking around for a bit, and listening to confirm that the man had, in fact, left the building, Naruto saw that he had copied a schedule for a field trip with class 1-A to the USJ in three weeks.

_'Well,' _Naruto thought to himself, _'It finally just got a little bit interesting…'_

* * *

"Well, c'mon class rep." Said Yaoyorozu, standing at the front of the room with Izuku.

"N-Now, let us decide on the other class officers. But first, can I say something? I think...that Tenya should be that class rep after all! He was able to get everyone's attention in such a cool way. I think it would be best for Iida to do it." Izuku said, smiling at Iida from the front of the room.

"I'm good with that too. Midoriya's saying it, and it's true that Iida was a big help at the cafeteria today." Said Kirishima, quickly followed by Kaminari's agreement. "Yeah, and he kind of looked like the person on the emergency exit signs, didn't he?"

"You're wasting time." Said Aizawa, in his sleeping bag yet again. "I don't care what you do, just hurry up and do it." Aizawa then fell back down to the floor, for the second time that day.

"If the class rep has nominated me, then it cannot be helped." Said Iida, standing up. "From this day forth, I, Iida Tenya, promise to do my best to carry out the duties of class representative." This was all quickly followed by the class's agreement, much to Yaoyorozu's dismay.

* * *

Immediately after the final bell rang, Izuku, Ochako, and Iida all rushed to Naruto's desk.

"Naruto!" Exclaimed Ochako, "I'm glad you're okay! We all lost you in the commotion in the cafeteria and couldn't find you afterwards! What happened to you?"

"Oh it was nothing big or exciting. I fell down once the stamped of people started. And by the time I stood back up and got my bearings you guys were way ahead of me, heh." Said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It's all good though, nothing bad happened to me!" He added giving them a thumbs up and a smile.

"Thank god! I was so worried when I found Iida and Midoriya but not you in the crowd!" Said Ochako, looking a little bit sheepish herself now.

"Yes, I must agree with Ochako-san Uzumaki-san. I am, however, greatly relieved that you are okay." Said Iida, sending a firm nod Naruto's way.

"I have to agree with them Naruto. I was glad when I saw you in the classroom unharmed. Your words were part of what inspired me to give my position to Iida. I don't know what I would have done if you were hurt." Izuku added, looking down at his shoes.

"Iida as I've told you before, call me Naruto, man! And there was no need to worry guys, I can take care of myself like a big boy." Here, Naruto paused to laugh a little bit with the rest of them. "But seriously guys it's not your fault that I got lost in the crowd, and even if something had happened to me, it wouldn't have been your fault. No need to stress about it!

* * *

"And what did this guy look like?" Haru asked Naruto, sitting on the couch across from him, and Jiraiya in the chair next to the couch.

"He was about five foot five and appeared to be in his early twenties. He had a dismantled hand covering his face, so I wasn't able to get a good look at it. He was very thin and lean; I don't think he does much exercise at all. He also didn't appear to have any training as his body was completely relaxed and he barely payed attention to his surroundings. Oh, and he had light blue hair that fell to his neck." Naruto said, recalling the description of the man he has break into U.A. today.

"Okay and what was he taking?" Asked Haru.

"It was a schedule of a field trip my class is having in three weeks." Naruto said, leaning back into the couch.

"And, do you have a copy of this paper?" Asked Jiraiya, looking at Naruto.

"Of course I do, who do you think you're talking to?" Said Naruto. "I took a picture of it on my phone, I'll send it to both of you." Naruto then proceeded to dig his phone out of his pocket and send the photo to both of the other men through their group chat.

"Naruto, who you saw today was Shigaraki. I don't know if he is the next in line for All-For-One, but I do know that he has close ties with the man. It also looks like All Might is supposed to go on this field trip with your class. My guess is that they are going to try and go after him. You need to be on your guard during this field trip and try to protect All Might. It is too early to blow your cover and All Might should be able to hold his own so don't do anything to big but try to help from the shadows. We cannot have him die. He is still too important to this war, and Izuku must learn about his power first." Haru said, looking Naruto straight in the eye. Reverting back to his solider made, Naruto looked back at Haru before giving him a firm nod, determination clear in his eyes. "Hai." He said.

"Well," Said Jiraiya, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs with a slight smirk on his face. "It looks like Shikamaru, and hopefully Sasuke, should hurry up getting here."

**A/N: So what did you guys think of this chapter? The USJ arc is coming up so things are finally going to start getting interesting! Do y'all want Sasuke to join in on this mission? And who do you guys want Naruto to end up with? Someone did ask for a poll, so for possible pairings for Naruto we have:**

**Hinata-3**

**Sasuke-1**

**Momo-5**

**Tsuyu-2**

**Shikamaru-1**

**Todoroki-2**

**Mina-2**

**Toru-1**

**Tokoyami-1**

**Uraraka-1**

**Keep telling me who you want Naruto to end up with! Keep in mind it doesn't have to be someone from BNHA lol it can be a character from Naruto.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who has liked and favorited this story, as well as those who reviewed the last chapter. **

**This early chapter is brought to you by the quarantine (stay safe everyone) and the fact that I am officially done with school for the year (until I go back in August lol).**

**For those in America, happy Memorial Day!**

* * *

_"Hey, why don't you just fight back?" A four-year-old Shikamaru asked, as he stared down at a freshly beaten Naruto. "I'm not one for showing off, but if you fought back, they would probably stop hitting you."_

_"No, if I hit back, the adults will get more fearful of me. They don't beat me up because I'm small, they beat me up because their parents do it, and encourage their kids to. And if the adults get scared of me, they will hurt me more than they already do." Said Naruto, his tone making it sound like it should be obvious to everyone._

_"But, why do they hate you that much?" Asked Shikamaru, as he cocked his head to the side, confused by what Naruto was saying. _

_"Well if I knew, I would fix it so they would stop." This was the sarcastic reply from Naruto, as he glared at the ground. Then he noticed a shadow fall across his legs. Looking up, he saw Shikamaru holding his hand out for Naruto. _

_"You can come to my house; I promise my parents won't hate you. My mom will clean you up and the woman will probably insist that you stay for dinner." Shikamaru said, smiling down at Naruto. _

_Naruto grabbed his hand and pulled himself up. "Naruto Uzumaki!" He said, with a large smile on his face. _

_"Shikamaru Nara." He said, as he turned around to lead Naruto to his house. _

* * *

Naruto yawned loudly as he lazily threw his hands behind his head and closed his eyes as he walked behind a few of his classmates outside the doors of the 1-A classroom.

Last night, Naruto had stayed up most of the night going over events that were happening in the villain world and planning the next few steps that were going to be taken, especially with the upcoming field trip. Additionally, today's hero training class was studying hero's and battle tactics instead of actually getting up and moving around. So, Naruto was very tired as a result of not being able to move around all day.

Bakugou had also started yelling at the majority of the class at some point for reasons that Naruto couldn't care to remember. But it ultimately resulted in the entire class having to stay after school and listen to Aizawa-sensei lecture them all.

Now, all of the students of class 1-A were all walking out the doors of the U.A. campus.

"Man, we may not have done much physical stuff but mentally I'm beat man!" Said Kirishima, as soon as they stepped outside, stopping to take a deep breath of air after he said that.

"Yeah, I feel like I've overused my quirk again because of how badly my brain hurts right now." Moaned Kaminari, cradling his head in-between his hands.

"All they did today was shove information down our throats. Don't be surprised if when I show up tomorrow, I don't remember anything we learned today." Said Naruto, agreeing with the two boys. Despite being in ANBU, they had very different rules then the ones the hero's used. Plus, Naruto was never good at memorizing for school, he learned by doing. So, the pain he was currently feeling was very real.

"C'mon guys," Said Izuku, walking behind them with Iida and Ochako at his sides. "It honestly wasn't that bad; it was like a normal junior high day except different information. Naruto, if you need help studying you can come over today and I can help you. Plus, my mom wants to know how you've been anyway."

"Thanks Izuku," Said Naruto, finally opening his eyes to smile at Izuku before looking forward. "I might actually- "Naruto stopped mid-sentence when he caught the sight that was in front of him. Standing right behind the golden gated entrance of U.A. was a figure that Naruto didn't think he would see until the late hours of the night a week from now.

Yet, there he stood, civilian clothing and all. It almost made Naruto think that he had the wrong person for a second. He looked so different in civilian clothing. While they had been friends all their lives, they had never seen each other in anything but a uniform since their academy days. It made Naruto do a double take.

He was leaning up against the gate, eyes closed, smoking a cigarette. While Naruto knew that he was, in fact, very aware of his surroundings and what was going on, to the untrained eye everything about him would scream relaxed.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" Turning to the voice, Naruto saw that it was Iida who had asked the question. But everyone had a concerned look on their face. Even Bakugou, Sero, Todoroki, and Ashido, who Naruto guessed had joined their little group at some point.

Naruto's mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusions. Why was here a week early? Did something happen in the hidden villages? Or was it something here that Naruto didn't know about yet? Where were Jiraiya and Haru? Were they ok?

Naruto was brought out of these musing by Bakugou. "Oi, whiskers, what's the hold up? And what the hell are you staring at? Let's get a move on."

Turning away from where his friends were and facing forward again, Naruto saw that he had finally opened his eyes. One look between the two of them and Naruto knew that nothing was wrong, he just came a week early to surprise him. _'The bastard…' _Naruto thought fondly to himself, scoffing and shaking his head slightly.

Once the fact that he was here in the flesh and finally sunk in, Naruto could not hide his excitement. Even Kumara was excited (Kumara had always liked him, he was one of the reasons his kit didn't go insane and destroy the village from the ground up. While Kumara never had intentions of befriending his host, he didn't need an even worse reputation than he already had with the leaf).

Filled with the excitement of both him and Kumara, Naruto began running towards him at a speed that was almost the same as Iida's (he was still on a mission; he couldn't let his cover blow just because he got excited).

Naruto screamed as loudly as his lungs would let him, finally letting go of all of the excitement that was building inside of him.

"SHIKAAAAMARUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"

As soon as he was done screaming, Naruto was close enough to Shikamaru that he could safely launch himself into Shikamaru's arms, that were now open for a hug, effectively catching Naruto. Using their native tongue, Shikamaru whispered in Naruto's ear so no one else could hear. _"Well there's no need to act so disappointed to see me." These were the sarcastic words Naruto was greeted with. It made him realize how much he truly missed Shikamaru after all this time. _

Shikamaru started to chuckle after saying this, with Naruto soon following along. _"I had my in-person interview with Endeavor's agency today, I got the job and start tomorrow. Jiraiya has already moved all his stuff out and I've moved into his old room. We'll brief you on the rest when we get back to the apartment." Shikamaru continued, as he started to rock Naruto back and forth in his hold. _

_"You fucking bastard I thought you weren't coming for another week. I hate you." _Naruto said, with no real malice behind his words, as he started to untangle himself from Shikamaru.

_"What, hate seeing me already? And here I had a nice cigarette lit and ready for you to steal from my fingers." _Shikamaru said in a teasing tone. Immediately being reminded of the cigarette in Shikamaru's hand, Naruto took it and brought it to his lips.

_"This is nice," _He said, _"I don't think I've had one of these since I got here. I forgot how much they can help unwind from a simple day."_

_"Well Naruto we both know your IQ isn't the highest when it comes to civilian things, I think your schoolwork might be stressful for you." _Shikamaru said mockingly, before Naruto slapped him playfully on the arm.

"U-Um…Naruto? Who is this guy? And…since-since when do you smoke?" Izuku said, surprise and shock in both his tone and face, as he approached Naruto and Shikamaru with the rest of the group Naruto was standing with before he ran away. Izuku's face morphed into one of confusion the longer he looked at Shikamaru and Naruto.

"Oh sorry guys, how rude of me. This is my best friend. We grew up together, never apart, and I haven't seen him since I moved out here a couple months ago to apply to U.A. sorry about that." Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's ok Naruto! We understand that you were excited! I don't think I've ever seen you run that fast!" Ochako said with a smile on her face.

"Nara, Shikamaru." Shikamaru spoke up loudly enough for everyone to hear, and in the language they spoke. He bowed to everyone, and they began to introduce themselves to him. That was until it was it was Bakugou's turn.

"Tch, I don't give a shit who you are or your relationship to whiskers over there, are we finally going to head home? I'm tired of being here around all of you idiots." Bakugou said, walking ahead of them. "By the way, the name is Bakugou Katsuki, pineapple head."

Everyone shared a look with each other before shrugging and heading towards the subway station, trying to catch up with Bakugou. Shikamaru took his cigarette back from Naruto's hand, taking one last drag before putting it out and throwing it away in a nearby trashcan.

Iida was immediately lecturing Naruto about smoking. "Uzumaki-san, as your class rep, I feel that I must remind you about the dangers of smoking. More than 480,000 people die each year from smoking! You could develop lung cancer from this! Smoking is detrimental to your health! Especially if you want to be a hero! I highly encourage you as both your friend and class rep to quit immediately! Along with your friend!" He said, making insanely fast hand motions, with worry seeping into his voice.

"But, Naruto, smoking is something that is illegal for someone our age, how are you guys even getting cigarettes? I don't know about Nara-san, but you go to a hero school Naruto, you cannot be breaking the law." Said Ochako, as blunt as ever as she started to wonder what her friend did outside of school.

"It's only illegal if you're not an adult Ochako. And Iida, call me Naruto." Naruto said, in a matter of fact tone.

"Exactly Naruto, but you aren't a legal adult until you are twenty." Iida said, sweat dropping a little bit at Naruto's response.

"I am a legal adult, Iida." Naruto said, as serious as ever, looking at Iida directly in the eye.

Everyone, aside from Naruto and Shikamaru laughed at this. Once they looked at Naruto and saw how serious he was, they all stopped laughing. "Wait are you being serious bro? How did you manage to become a legal adult?" Asked Kirishima.

"Both my parents died the day that I was born. Shikamaru and I come from a small island just off the coast of Japan. We lived in a really rural village, and he neighboring village that was more built up because of tourist was over an hour away. There was really bad storm that day, so none of the cell towers were functioning. That night, there was a large-scale villain attack on the village. It killed almost half of our population, including my parents, and destroyed over half of our village. Because we were so rural, there was only one small orphanage, which quickly became overwhelmed after the attack.

"As it turned out, my father was a politician in my village, and close to our Hokage. The Hokage was able to create a deal for me.

"In our village, we have an academy, which is where you go for schooling when you turn five and it doesn't finish until you are twelve. After this, you have the option to drop out, or continue onto our version of high school. The deal was that the government in our village would provide me money and housing for myself until I finished the academy. After that, I would become a legal adult so I could work for an income. This worked and after the academy I began working for money.

"Two years later, Jiraiya, who turned out to be my godfather, found me. He wanted to make up for what he did so, he asked me what my biggest dream was. After that, he trained me and offered to pay for me while I attended school here.

"Because I had been working for two years and providing for myself, Japan allowed me to keep my legal status when I immigrated over here, in case I needed to pick up a job or anything to pay bills, which brings us to where we are now."

As Naruto finished was, he was saying, everyone stared at him, shocked. Before they had the chance to say anything, Shikamaru took this opportunity to explain why he was here before anyone could ask themselves.

"In my first year at the academy, our teachers quickly found out that I was extremely smart and had a very high IQ. I skipped a bunch of grades and finished up high school over there a couple of weeks ago. Because I had already finished schooling, our village also granted me a legal adult status so I could work. It wasn't like I had to be in school or anything anyway, and high school is as far as the education system goes over there. I moved out here to get a job at a hero agency as a tactic, to help heroes better understand higher up villains fighting style to help bring them down. Naruto agreed to let me live with him, but I came a week early, which is why he was surprised to see me. When I came over, the country also allowed me to remain a legal adult."

By now, the group had made it to the subway and were all waiting for their respective subways to show up. This didn't stop them from moving their shocked gaze to Shikamaru, though.

"N-Naruto I'm so sorry to hear that." Said Ochako, tears gathering in her eyes as she looked at him with pity.

Shrugging in response, Naruto said, "It's not that big of a deal, I accepted it a long time ago, and my childhood wasn't that bad."

Naruto and Shikamaru both knew that these statements were wrong. Naruto's childhood was one full of abuse, and while Naruto had accepted his parent's death, he resented his father for a long time.

"No way, there's no way that pineapple over there is smart enough to become a tactic at a hero agency. What shit agency hired you? They only accept the smartest people for that shit." Said Bakugou, glaring at Shikamaru.

"My IQ is over 200 Bakugou, and I got a job at the Endeavor Hero Agency. I had my in-person interview today and am starting tomorrow." Was the lazy reply from Shikamaru, as he leaned against the wall, looking at Bakugou through half-opened eyes.

"The Endeavor Hero Agency?" Asked Todoroki, giving his full attention to the Shikamaru. Shikamaru just shrugged at him.

"Yeah, I think that's what he said it was, why is he a big hero or something?" He asked.

"Is he a big hero?" Izuku repeated, with a look of disbelief on his face. "He's the number two hero! How do you not know this?"

"Like Naruto said before, our village is very rural, we barely have any internet, and I don't care enough to pay attention to hero rankings. I just applied to all of the places in the area because I wanted to be close to Naruto. Most of the places I applied to accepted me, but his was offering the most money so I went with him." Explained Shikamaru

The first subway that arrived happened to be the one that was taking Izuku, Bakugou, Naruto, and Shikamaru. So, waving goodbye to everyone else, they boarded the subway leaving behind a very shocked group of students.

"So, Nara-san," Said Izuku, once they had all sat down. "What's your quirk? Does it have anything to do with your intelligence?"

"Energy manipulation, same as Naruto. And please, call me Shikamaru. Nara is my father." Replied Shikamaru. But before he could answer Izuku's second question, he was already asking a third.

"Really? You both have the same quirk?" Asked Izuku, slightly shocked.

"To a certain extent, yes. Most of our village has an energy manipulation quirk, due to such a secluded population and the area in which we live. The quick is very useful for everyday life where we live, everyone just uses it in different ways. We can all use it to heighten different aspects of our body, such as hearing and sight, but we all control different energy natures. For example, I have an affinity for fire, earth, and yin energies. Naruto on the other hand has an affinity for wind energies. So, I could manipulate fire if it was near me, while Naruto could manipulate the wind." Shikamaru said. "And no," he added as an afterthought to his explanation. "My intelligence has nothing to do with my quirk, it's more of a family trait."

"Wow," Izuku said, looking at both Shikamaru and Naurto with admiration. He then quickly grabbed a notebook out of his backpack and continued to ask them both questions the rest of the way to their respective homes.

Bakugou just sighed and looked out the window while he pretended to be disinterested in the conversation. But he was sizing Shikamaru up and down out of the corner of his eye as he stored all of the information about his quirk for later use.

* * *

"Shikamaru because of the job you now have, Endeavor is going to be required to trust you from the start. We need you to get him to trust you as a person though, and not only for defeating villains. On the day of Naruto's trip when he sends you the signal, you need to be able to find a way to get Endeavor and the other pros there." Said Jiraiya, glaring at Shikamaru from where he sat across from him at their table. Each had long-since finished plates of food in front of them.

"Yes, yes, I know, I know. Good grief this is so troublesome. I wouldn't have come if I knew you were gonna say the same thing 20 times over." Said Shikamaru, running a hand down his face before massaging his forehead.

"Alright Jiraiya I think they got it by now." Said Haru, chuckling slightly. "You two go onto bed, you both have big days tomorrow. Jiraiya and I will clean up everything and be out of here before you know it." He continued, before making a shooing motion with his hands at the two boys.

Naruto and Shikamaru both stood up without complaint before heading to their respective bedrooms. But as Shikamaru continued walking past Naruto's room. Naruto grabbed his wrist to prevent him from moving further. "Where are you going?" He asked Shikamaru.

"My bed, Naruto." Said Shikamaru, his drowsiness evident in his voice.

"Today was the first time I've seen you in months, Shika. If you don't think that you're sleeping in my room tonight then you're wrong." Said Naruto, before dragging Shikamaru into his bed. Both boys had the most restful and peaceful sleep since they had been separated that night.

* * *

**A/N: Ahhhhhhhh Shikamaru is finally here! What did you guys think about this chapter? The USJ arc is going to begin next chapter, is there anything specific you want to see/want to happen? Also, for Naruto's love interest we have: **

**Hinata-6**

**Sasuke-3**

**Momo-7**

**Tsuyu-4**

**Shikamaru-9**

**Todoroki-4**

**Mina-2**

**Toru-1**

**Tokoyami-2**

**Uraraka-1**

**Izuku-1**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who has followed and favorited this story, as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

**Okay so people want to know how the BNHA world doesn't know about the elemental Nations. So basically the island country acts as a barrier between the two worlds so it hides the Elemental Nations from the ordinary world. Because the shinobi sealed themselves away, they used different techniques to make people forget that they were around and those who remembered are long dead by now and the few stories of shinobi that survived are now just considered fairy tales. Does that make sense? Let me know if you're still confused!**

* * *

_"No, you stick the smaller one inside your ears and the bigger ones over your ears. Then, you both can practice on the target and I'll correct you both after every round." Said Haru as he, Shikamaru, and Naruto stood in a gun range. _

_"Do we have to use these? Wouldn't it be easier to get our ears used to the noise so if we do use a gun, it won't block our hearing?" Asked Naruto, looking at his ear protection with distaste. _

_"We'll work on that while we're here, but it would be better to start off with the protection, Naruto. These are very loud, especially with your extremely sensitive ears." Haru told Naruto as he grabbed Naruto's ear and tugged it away from his face. _

_"I still don't get why we need to learn how to use a gun, if anything it's kind of impractical." Shikamaru said as he stared down at the gun in his hand. Haru dropped Naruto's ear and turned to Shikamaru._

_"It may be different than what we're used to, but before you get a hero license you can't use your 'quirk' in public and the weapons we would typically use are illegal here. This is the best way to defend yourself without having to deal with possible repercussions from the legal system here. Shikamaru, you can carry this with you everywhere, even when you're at work. Naruto, the only place you wouldn't be able to take this is school. But you should be able to use your quirk there and if anything happened, the school would deal with a repercussions. Now," Haru explained, before clapping his hands together. "let's get started."_

* * *

"For today's basic hero training, it's tuned into a class with three instructors. All Might, me, and one more person." Aizawa's uncaring voice filled the room as he began the basic hero training class for the day. Once he said these words, Naruto watched as all of his classmates became shocked and confused, wondering why a third teacher would be joining them today. Naruto knew that the third teacher was going to be the pro-hero Thirteen and would be meeting them at the USJ facility, as today was the day of the long-awaited field trip that he wasn't supposed to know about. However, he acted just as shocked as his classmates.

Sero raised his hand in the air once Aizawa was done speaking. "Excuse me! What'll we be doing?" He asked.

Aizawa then proceeded to hold up a card with large, black block letters on it that spelled 'rescue'. "Disasters, shipwrecks, and everything in between. It's rescue training." He said, sounding a little more awake than he had just a moment ago.

The entire room suddenly became very excited for today's class.

"Rescue training? Looks like it'll be a lot of work this time, too." Said Kaminari, turning to Ashido.

"Right?" She said with excitement in her tone. Before she could continue, Kirishima joined in on the conversation.

"Idiot, this is the duty of a hero! My arms are ready to rumble!" He exclaimed.

"No one can beat me in the water, kuro kuro." Said Asui confidently.

"I was wondering when we were gonna start rescue training, it's what you see hero's doing half the time on T.V.! Get hyped guys todays training is going to be amazing, believe it!" Naruto yelled, adding to the excitement of his classmates.

"Hey, I'm not done." Said Aizawa, bringing the attention back to him. "You can decide if you want to wear your costumes or not this time." At this, Aizawa pressed a button and the drawers with everyone's costumes in it came forward. "Because there are probably costumes that limit your abilities, too. The training will take place off-campus. So we're taking a bus. That is all. Start getting ready." Aizawa then turned and walked out of the classroom, leaving everyone to get ready.

* * *

"Hey buddy!" Said Kirishima, as he walked over to Naruto with Kaminari at his side. "Are you gonna wear your hero costume?" He asked Naruto, clapping his hand on his shoulder once he stood next to him.

"Yeah, my costume is simple enough that it shouldn't get in the way when trying to rescue others. Are you guys going to wear yours?" Asked Naruto, before he started changing into his hero costume (starting with his pants, he would wait until his classmates were more occupied to change his shirt).

"Hell yeah man, why wouldn't we? Besides, when we become real heroes, we'll have to rescue people in our costumes, why not get used to doing it now?" Kaminari said to Naruto, before he and Kirishima followed Naruto's example and started changing before Aizawa yelled at them.

Once Naruto slipped his top on, he turned to walk out of the room as he was done changing, but his gaze met Todoroki's once again. He knew that soon he would have to talk to Todoroki about his scars, but he didn't know if he wanted to wait for Todoroki to ask, or if he wanted to confront him himself.

* * *

With the entire class standing outside waiting to board the bus, Iida blew hard into his whistle. "Class 1-A gather round! Form two lines by your student numbers in order to make boarding the bus go smoothly!" Iida said, before blowing his whistle a couple more times.

The entire class sweat dropped at this, before ignoring what Iida was saying and boarding the bus.

* * *

Once on the bus, Iida was immediately embarrassed by his earlier behavior. "Shoot, I didn't think it'd be this type of bus." He said, placing his head in his hands.

"There was no point, huh?" Asked Ashido, teasing Iida.

"I say whatever comes to mind." Asui suddenly said, before turning to Midoriya. "Midoriya," She said.

"Yes Asui-san?" He asked, flustered by the fact that she had turned to him.

"Your quirk is like All Might's." She said to him.

Immediately, Izuku got a flustered look on his face began to deny all allegations while waving his arms around wildly. It was honestly quite funny to both Naruto and Kurama as they were both laughing inside Naruto's head. "Huh?! Y-Y-You think so?" Izuku asked Asui. "But I'm…uh…" Before Izuku could come up with an excuse, Kirishima unknowingly came to the rescue.

"Wait a sec, Tsu. All Might doesn't get hurt when he uses it. They just kind of look the same. But it's nice to have a simple augmenting-type quirk. You can do lots of flashy stuff! My hardening's strong against others, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like much." He said, shifting the conversation from Izuku's quirk to his own.

"I think it's really cool! It's a quirk that can definitely pass as a pro's!" Said Izuku, an amazed look in his eyes as he watched Kirishima harden his arm.

"A pro's, huh? But you have to think about popularity as a hero, too, you know." Said Kirishima.

"Think of all the damage you could do with a punch though, if you trained with your quirk." Said Naruto, finally joining in on the conversation. "If you can make your punches strong enough with your quirk, you could probably make small craters in the earth. That would throw the enemy off their balance no matter if they see it coming or not, as long as they remain on the ground. As they try to get their bearings, that's when you can use their confusion to ambush and take care of the villain. Of course, that's a very flashy way to do it, and better to use on big groups as opposed to small ones." As he said this, Naruto thought of the creators he has seen Tsunade make in the earth with her own punches. "You could also be pretty good at aiding in rescue with it, if there was a sudden explosion or something, you could use your body to protect some nearby civilians if you react in time."

"Well if were talking about strength and flashiness, it's gotta be Todoroki and Bakugou though, huh?" Said Kirishima, while he pondered about what Naruto said.

"Bakugou's always mad, so he doesn't seem like he'll be popular, though." Said Asui, not even looking at Bakugou. Bakugou, however, did hear this, and was immediately mad.

"What the hell?! You wanna fight?!" He yelled at her, beginning to climb out of his seat.

"See?" She said, pointing at him to prove her point.

"We haven't known each other that long, so it's amazing that everyone already knows his personality is crap stepped in sewage." Kaminari said in a smug tone, as he commented on Bakugou's attitude. This did not go in his favor though, as Bakugou took his screaming to Kaminari.

"What's with that vocabulary, bastard? I'll kill you!" He continued yelling, making Jirou, who was sitting next to him, more uncomfortable and annoyed then she already was.

"We're here. Stop messing around." Said Aizawa, his voice as toneless as ever, as the bus came to a stop.

* * *

"Everyone, I have been waiting for you. Let's go inside without delay." Thirteen told the students, as they fangirled over their appearance.

"Look forward to working with you!" The entire class said, before walking inside the building.

"A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm, et cetera—it is a training ground that I made with different types of accidents and disasters. It's called the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint.' Or USJ for short!" Said Thirteen in a cheery tone, as they held their hands up and turned to the class.

Aizawa came forward and turned to thirteen, asking them a question. "Thirteen, where's All Might? He was supposed to meet us here."

"About that…" Said Thirteen, walking closer to Aizawa. "It looks like he did too much hero work on his way to work and ran out of time. So, he's resting in the lounge."

"That's the height of irrationality. It can't be helped. Shall we begin?" Asked Aizawa, annoyed at All Might's actions. But he turned his class over to Thirteen.

"Let's see…before we begin, let say one thing…er…or two, or three…er four…five…six…seven." Thirteen began, before shaking their head and collecting their thoughts. "Everyone, I am sure you are aware of my quirk, Black Hole. I can suck up anything and turn it to dust." Thirteen continued, gaining eager looks from the students.

"You've been able to use that quirk to save people from all kinds of disasters, right?" Izuku asked eagerly, leaning forward slightly.

"Yes, but it is a power that can easily kill." This was the grave response Thirteen gave the students, which gained shocked looks from them. They obviously weren't expecting things to turn that dark.

_'Worst part is they won't even have to get used to talks like this. If there's anything I hate about this society, it's how blind the average person has become. Even as apart of law enforcement, heroes never have to kill anyone, it's always the military doing it, and the police on some occasions. They still have terrorists and groups aiming to harm people, but heroes never deal with them. Hell, they rarely deal with true villains. Most heroes just deal with villains doing mundane things like purse-snatching. At least back home, the people that don't fight still know the reality of what's going on. The closest heroes will come here to death is those from natural disasters or suicide attempts. They will never inflict it themselves. They leave that to the police and military, who are constantly hated by this entire society for protecting them.' _Naruto told Kurama. But before the conversation between the two could continue, Thirteen began speaking to the class once again.

"Some of you have quirks like that, right? In a superhuman society, personal quirks have been certified and stringently regulated so that doesn't seem to be a problem at first glance. However, please do not forget that there are many quirks that can easily kill with one wrong step. With Aizawa's physical fitness test, you found out about the possibility of your own hidden powers. And with All Might's person-to-person combat training, I think you experienced the danger of using those powers against others. This class is a fresh start. You shall learn how to use your quirks to save people's lives. You do not have powers so you can harm others. I hope you leave here with the understanding that you have powers in order to help others. That is all. Thank you for listening." Thirteen said, bowing to the class, only for them to praise thirteen on a speech well done.

"All right then, first—" Aizawa, started saying, before all of the electricity inside the building was cut. A purple vortex then appeared, and Naruto knew what was happening.

_'Shit! I didn't think that this would start until they had already separated us! I can't summon Gamabunta here, everyone will see! And I can't slip away, it would be to obvious and to dangerous.' _Naruto thought to himself, as he mentally ran down the list of what to. Remembering that phones were a thing over here and that he took his with him, Naruto took it out of his pocket and pulled up Shikamaru's contact to call him, only to realize that he had no service.

Realizing that he would have to wait to contact Shikamaru, Naruto returned his attention to the purple vortex only to find a hand sticking through it, before part of Shigaraki's face appeared.

"Gather together and don't move!" Yelled Aizawa, immediately on alert and on edge. "Thirteen, protect the students!" He added, before turning his attention back to the vortex.

"What's that?" Asked Kirishima, confused by the situation. Shigaraki and other villains began coming out of the vortex, that has now expanded to twice its original size. "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson's already started?" Kirishima asked.

"No Kirishima, this was supposed to be rescue training, do those people look like they need to be rescued to you?" Naruto said sarcastically, a bit annoyed that heroes in training could not recognize a threat when one was right in front of them. Even if they weren't used to danger like he was, this situation screams both villains and danger.

"Don't move!" Said Aizawa, as he put on his googles. "Those are villains."

"Thirteen and Eraserhead, huh? The teacher's schedule we received the other day said that All Might was also supposed to be here." The vortex said, now assuming a human-like form.

"The trespassing the other day was the work of these scumbags after all, huh?" Said Aizawa.

"All Might…the Symbol of Peace…I can't believe he's not here. I wonder if he'll come if we kill some kids?" Shigaraki asked getting a psychotic look on his face, before Aizawa moved his capture gear into the air.

"What? Villains? There's no way they could get into a hero school!" Kirishima yelled in disbelief, still in denial about the whole situation.

"You better believe it Kirishima. I may still be young, but if there's one thing I learned it's that with enough will power and patience, you can make anything happen. No matter if it's for good or evil." Said Naruto, more serious than his classmates had ever seen him be. Naruto ignored the stares he was getting from his classmates and focused on the villains. From what he could tell, Shigaraki, the vortex guy, and the monster standing beside them were the only really bad ones they had to worry about. Everyone else just appeared to be your average, low-life villain. Naruto figured it was the equivalent of three jounins and an army of genins.

"Sensei, what about the trespasser sensors?" Yaoyorozu asked thirteen.

"We have them, of course, but…" They said, trailing off and leaving the rest of the statement for the students to figure out.

"Did they only appear here, or around the whole school?" Asked Todoroki.

_'Finally, someone is asking actual questions here.' _Thought Naruto.

Either way, if the sensors are not responding that means they have someone with a quirk that can do that. An isolated area separated from the main campus during a time when a class is supposed to be here. They might be fools, but they're not dumb. This surprise attack was carefully planned with some sort of goal in mind." Todoroki continued, and Naruto was still thanking whatever god out there that he wasn't stuck with a bunch of idiots that still belonged in the academy.

"Based on their reaction to the knowledge that All Might isn't here," Naruto said, adding on to Todoroki's statement. "They want to bring him down, no doubt. Or, they could possibly want to traumatize him a bit by toying around with us to shake up his confidence. I have no doubt they are pissed that All Might isn't here."

Before anyone could respond to Naruto, Aizawa spoke up again. "Thirteen, start the evacuation. Try calling the school. These villains even had something to counteract the sensors. It's possible someone with radio-wave-type powers is interfering. Kaminari, you try contacting the school with your quirk too."

"Hai." Said Kaminari, a serious look on his face for once as he nodded to Aizawa.

"What about you sir? Will you fight by yourself? With that many, even if you can erase their quirks… Eraserhead's fighting style is capturing after erasing the enemy's quirk. A frontal battle is…" Izuku said, trailing off, not wanting to think about what was going to happen to his teacher.

"You can't be a hero with just one trick." Said Aizawa.

"Come on Izuku, have some faith in out sensei. He may prefer stealth over head-on battles, but he isn't pro hero for no reason." Said Naruto, nodding to Aizawa, before receiving a nod in return. Aizawa then turned to Thirteen.

"I'm leaving it to you, Thirteen." He said, before jumping into battle.

Following Thirteen, the class began to run to the doors to take cover from the villains. But the purple vortex villain had other plans for them.

"Nice to meet you. We are the League of Villains. It may be presumptuous of us, but we have invited ourselves into the home of the heroes, U.A. high school. In order to have All Might, the Symbol of Peace, take his last breath. I believe All Might should have been here. Has there been some kind of change? Well, that is neither here nor there. That is the part I am to play."

Not wanting to wait any longer, Thirteen activated her quick, only to realize that she could not when two reckless students made their move. Kirishima and Bakugou jumped into the air, both activating their quirks as they tried to punch the purple vortex villain.

"Did you consider that you'd get beaten by us before you did that?" Asked Kirishima.

"Oh dear, that was close." The purple vortex said, a little shocked by the sudden attack. This sent Naruto reeling into his thoughts.

_'Huh, they both aimed for the neck area, that is surrounded by a piece of metal. My guess is that the medal is protecting the only part of his that anyone can cause any damage to. Questions is, how to we remove it. I may know how to work electronics now, but I don't understand them. I have no idea how to remove that. And, if it is the only part of him that can be hurt, then it's probably extremely durable. Damn! How can I remove it without using any Jutsu or extreme amounts of chakra?'_ Thought Naruto, frustrated with himself.

"That's right. Even if you are students, you are excellent golden eggs." The purple vortex continued, before he was interrupted by thirteen.

"No! Move away, you two!" They yelled, before the purple vortex began talking again.

"My job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!" He said, before pushing his quirk to cover everyone.

* * *

Once Naruto could see again, he looked around and realized that he hadn't been moved at all, but many of classmates had. He was with Iida, Shoji, Ashido, Sero, and Ochako. Naruto and Shoji immediately started using their quirks to see if their classmates were still in the building.

"Everyone's scattered, but they're all in this building." Shoji said.

"Everyone seems to be in groups of two or three, aside from Todoroki. However, I have no doubt that he can handle a couple of villains on his own." Naruto said. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief hearing these statements.

"Class rep!" Thirteen said.

"Hai?" Asked Iida, curious as to what the pro hero wanted with him.

"I entrust this duty to you. Run to the school and tell them about what is happening here. The alarms are not sounding and out phones don't have signal. The alarm system is based infrared rays. Even though Eraserhead is erasing people's quirks left and right, they are still not working. Which means, the must have someone with an interference quirk, who hid right when they arrived. It would be faster for you to tun than for us to find that person." Thirteen said.

"But it would be a disgrace as class rep to leave everyone behind—" Iida started to protest, before Naruto interrupted him.

"Iida, a hero isn't always about fighting flashy battles, it's about helping in whatever way you can, and picking your fights. Today, the villains have chosen who is going to fight what battle, but you can still help. We know nothing about this guy, and no way to get further professional help. And we are still in training. Your quirk is also the most suited for this type of situation out of everyone here. Here, take this," Naruto said, killing two birds with one stone as he handed his phone, which had Shikamaru's contact pulled up, to Iida. "You remember Shikamaru right? He works closely with Endeavor now, closer than most of the man's sidekicks. Call him on your way to U.A. he can help get us more help. We don't know if these villains have surrounded just us, or the school as well. Now go, everyone is counting on you, class rep." Naruto said to Iida. With a look of determination on his face, Iida activated his quirk and got ready to run out of the USJ.

"Even if you have no other choice are there really idiots who talk about their plans in front of the enemy?!" Said purple vortex, activating his quirk again.

"We did it because it doesn't matter if we're found out! Black Hole!" Yelled Thirteen, as they also activated their quirk.

"Black hole, a quirk that sucks up everything and turns it into dust. I see. That is an outstanding quirk. However, thirteen, you are a hero who works to rescue people from disasters. As expected, your battle experience is then half of that of a normal hero." Explained purple vortex, before creating a vortex right behind Thirteen.

"A warp gate!" They said, before their own quirk was turned against them. Purple vortex used his quirk to protect himself from thirteens quirks and make them use it on them self.

"You turned yourself into dust." He said.

"H-He got me…" Thirteen said, ashamed and humiliated by how easily and quickly they were put out of commission.

"Sensei!" Ashido screamed, sounding very distressed.

"Iida run! Hurry!" Naruto didn't know who said it, as his mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure out a way to stop the purple vortex villain, when he saw Iida running out of the corner of his eye.

Seeing everyone turning their attention to Iida, Naruto snapped out of his thoughts to see the purple vortex villain using his quirk to stop Iida.

_'I don't need to permanently stop him, no, that can wait until later!' _Naruto thought to himself. _'All I need to do right now…is make sure that Iida makes it out of here! I may not know how to get rid of the metal around the villains neck, but I know that I can still use it as a distraction! Long enough for Iida to make it out of the building!' _

"Make sure that Iida is able to break that door down." Naruto said to his classmates. Before they had a chance to say anything, Naruto was making his way towards the villain. Making sure that he was moving quickly yet silently, Naruto ran up to the villain, and jumped into the air when he was just a couple feet away. He then started to add a layer of chakra to his right arm, as he raised it, ready to punch the villain.

_'No…this won't be enough to stop him for long…but it will give us the few seconds we need!'_

Naruto then delivered his right hook to the villain, which also sent him to the side and away from Iida. Ochako then came and used her quirk on the villain, preventing him from closer to Iida. Sero then used his tape to hold onto the villain as another classmate swung the villain around. When Naruto looked towards the doors, he briefly saw Iida's body before the doors slammed shut, letting him know that Iida made it. Feeling more assured, Naruto turned back to the villain, ready to take him down.

* * *

**A/N: Part one of the whole USJ arc! I tried to make it all one chapter but it turned out to be about 20 pages long lol. This chapter was the first 10 pages. I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! What did you think of it? Is there anything specific you want to happen in the next chapter? Keep the questions coming, I would to clarify if you don't understand something! Continue telling me who you want Naruto with! So far, we have:**

**Hinata-14**

**Sasuke-5**

**Momo-15**

**Tsuyu-5**

**Shikamaru-14**

**Todoroki-5**

**Mina-2**

**Toru-1**

**Tokoyami-3**

**Uraraka-1**

**Izuku-2**

**Nejire-1**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who has followed and favorited this story, as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

* * *

_"Can we really use a cover that's that simple?" Asked Naruto, surprised that something could be covered up so simply. He currently sat in his kitchen, eating breakfast with Shikamaru, Haru, and Jiraiya. _

_"Yeah gaki, it can, so just be thankful we get to deal with something simple during this mission." Haru told Naruto, before shoving some rice in his mouth. _

_"it's not like they can ask many questions or look through records themselves, anyway. Our records would only show if we were military if we were still active, or formally discharged after a war with kill credit and stuff. And the hero's here cant access our records from home because its different countries. If they have any questions, we can just say that we would rather not talk about our time serving. Plus, it would explain our skills if something got out of hand. Whether it's an enemy that requires a stronger skillset, or just our instincts at the end of the day, we might end up revealing more than we want to one day before we're ready. As long as what we reveal isn't too much, than this cover-up should work for us." Shikamaru explained to Naruto. _

_"So that's all I have to do if I have to reveal more skill than I want to? Just say that I served for two years after finishing the academy before Jiraiya took me under? It just…seems so easy." Naruto told them but didn't put up any further argument as he didn't see anything else wrong with the explanation. _

_"Enjoy the easy stuff while it's here kid, before the entire mission becomes one shit show after another." Jiraiya said, before stuffing an egg inside his mouth. It was honestly like the two grown men in the room never learned how to eat properly._

* * *

Before anyone had a chance to continue the attack on the purple vortex villain, he disappeared, only to reappear at Shigaraki's side. Naruto ran over to the railing to get a better look at what was happening.

What he saw was not good. He saw Aizawa, being held down by the monster. Naruto could smell Aizawa's blood from all the way up there. He knew Aizawa wouldn't be conscious for much longer based on how freely he was bleeding. He also saw Aizawa's eyes trained on Shigaraki, as he lunged towards Asui. Knowing that Aizawa was going to erase his quirk, Naruto decided that he was going to have to do something about the monster holding Aizawa down so he wouldn't lose eye contact with Shigaraki's body. He knew that he was going to have to blow part of his cover.

"You guys stay up here," Naruto said, turning to look at his classmates, who were also watching the scene in front of them.

"What?" Said Ochako. "Naruto you cannot go down there alone! You'll die!"

The rest of his classmates quickly began agreeing, which only added to Naruto's growing anger. "Please, compared to my life you all have lived cookie-cutter lives. This may be my first time on a battlefield with people whose quirks are so different than mine, but I have more experience then all of you." Naruto said, glaring at his classmates. "So let me handle it, and don't join in unless someone is about to die." Naruto finished as he jumped off the railing and ran towards the monster.

As he ran, Naruto made a shadow clone of himself. He briefly touched his hand to his chest to make sure the necklace Tsunade gave him was still there, before making the necessary hand movements for the Rasengan.

Jumping up into the air again, Naruto yelled "RASENGAN!" Before punching the monster in his exposed brain, causing him to fall over and skid into a wall, away from Aizawa.

Just after his attack, the doors to the USJ were pushed open, and in stormed All Might.

"Uzumaki…what the…hell…do you…think…you're doing?" Aizawa asked before passing out.

Naruto returned his attention the monster…only to discover that he had already healed and was standing up.

_'What the hell? That's one of my strongest moves. Even if he did heal abnormally quickly, he shouldn't be ok so quickly after something like that. What the hell is this thing?' _Naruto asked himself.

_'Beats me kit, in all my years I've never seen something like that happen before. There's no way that thing is natural. That thing was made…designed for a specific purpose. If I was putting my bet out there, it would be on that blond hero this group seems to want to take down oh so badly.'_ Kurama told Naruto, not only paying attention to the battle, but also offering this thoughts, which usually didn't happen unless Naruto was using his chakra.

All Might then came over, destroying all the villains in his path as if they were just flies in his way, before picking up Aizawa, Midoriya, Asui, and Naruto.

"Everyone, go to the entrance." All Might said, setting everyone down. "I'm leaving Aizawa to you. He's unconscious. Hurry!"

Naruto scooped up Aizawa in his arms, turning to leave with Asui and Izuku, but Izuku stopped at the last second.

"All Might you can't. The brain villain took One Fo— He took a punch that didn't break my arm, but he didn't even twitch. He's gotta be—" Izuku was cut off by All Might.

"Young Midoriya! It's fine!" With that being said, the three kids turned around and led Aizawa to the entrance of the USJ.

Before they could get that far, Izuku ran off. Naruto assumed this was to help All Might, leaving Naruto and Asui by themselves.

"Midoriya!" Asui yelled, about to chase after him when Naruto stopped her.

"Let him go, Asui." He said to her. "Izuku has always looked up to All Might more than the average person. He wants to make sure that he is okay. Right now, we have a job to do, one given to us by All Might, and that is to help Aizawa-sensei. If Izuku wants to watch then let him, but don't throw yourself in as well when your heart isn't in it. I know you care about both of them, but let's make sure that the three of us stay safe yeah?" Naruto flashed her a brief smile, before starting to climb the stairs.

With the help of their classmates, Naruto and Asui were able to get Aizawa up the stairs and laying on his back on the floor. As soon as he was laying down, Naruto began to scan Aizawa for injuries and what he could heal. He didn't have a great knowledge on medical nin like Sakura, but he knew enough to give Aizawa some more time. With his hands glowing green, Naruto decided to focus on the internal injuries that Aizawa had, as there were many. More focused with the internal bleeding then the broken bones, Naruto put his energy into that.

"-so reckless and, hey, Naruto, what are you doing?" Asked Ochako as she looked at Naruto.

"I'm trying to help heal him. While my knowledge of the process isn't the greatest, I can help buy Aizawa-sensei some time before the medics arrive. Basically, what I'm doing is pushing raw energy into my hands. I'm then giving this energy to specific parts of Aizawa-sensei's system to help speed up his healing process." Naruto explained. He continued to heal Aizawa for a couple more minutes, before he had successfully stopped most of the internal bleeding in his body. Aizawa would have to take care of the rest until the paramedics got there and took him to a hospital. Leaning back against a wall, feeling exhausted and breathing as if he had just been running for a large amount of time, Naruto took a couple to minutes to slow his breathing.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Sero asked Naruto in a quiet voice.

"I honestly don't know." Naruto replied. "He certainly took a lot of damage from the monster. I stopped all of his internal bleeding, or at least, all of the internal bleeding that I could find. But that's all I can do for him. The rest will be up to Aizawa and the medics that take care of him." Naruto finished, before standing up.

"Now that I've done all I can here, I'll be heading back out there." Naruto said, pointing to where the fight was currently taking place. "They're gonna need all the help they can get." With that being said, Naruto jumped down from the railing-again-and made his way over to where the battle was taking place.

Once he got there, Naruto barely had time to assess the situation. All he saw was the monster making a run for Bakugou, and All Might trying to take his place. Knowing that All Might could not take on any more damage than the already had, as Naruto could tell by the scent of his weak spot bleeding, Naruto preformed the kawarimi no jutsu, trading places with All Might to push Bakugou out of the way and take the hit for himself.

"Kacchan! You dodged? That's amazing!" Izuku said, amazed that his friend wasn't hurt.

"No, shut up scum!" Bakugou said.

"Then how…?" Kirishima asked, before the smoke cleared, revealing one unconscious Naruto Uzumaki stuck inside a wall.

"Young Uzumaki!" All Might yelled, amazed by the fact that his student had someone pushed him out of the way. He was worried; however, his student should not have taken that hit.

Returning back to the world of the living only a few moments after All Might yelled his name, Naruto's eyes flew open and he began coughing harshly. This caused him to fall out of his little indent in the wall and onto his hands and knees. Just trying to breathe was already a very trying task for Naruto. Judging by the pain he felt when he breathed in, Naruto could guess that a couple of his ribs were broken or fractured.

Once he was able to get his breathing under control, just a few short moments later thanks to his training, Naruto started to stand up and watched how the world in front of him began to swim in his vision. Naruto knew that part of this had to do with the fact that he had to take shallow breathes to avoid upsetting his ribs, but judging by the fact that he wasn't bleeding, Naruto knew that he was probably bleeding internally as well.

_'Not yet, Kurama. It will look to suspicious if I heal too quickly from an attack like that. Plus, I already used my 'quirk' on Aizawa-sensei. If I heal it won't add up. Besides, I can continue like this for a little longer.' _Naruto told Kurama as he made eye contact with All Might and sent a nod his way, letting him know that he was okay.

_'I can see the logic kit, but that doesn't mean that I like it. The second you pass out or are in a hospital I'm helping. If I'm dying it will be in our land and not this one.' _Kurama grumbled.

Having the confirmation that he needed, Naruto tried to push the last of his dizziness away and focused on what All Might was saying to Shigaraki.

"Do you not know how to hold back?" All Might asked, angered that his student felt the need to take a hit for him, but also at the villains for not restraining themselves against a minor.

"It was to rescue my companions. I had no choice. I mean, earlier, that…that plain-looking one, he was about to punch me with everything he had, you know. Violence for the sake of others makes it admirable. Isn't that right, hero? You know what, All Might? I'm angry. I'm angry at this world that categorizes the same violent acts as heroic or villainous, deciding what's good and what's bad. 'Symbol of Peace'? Ha. You're just a device to repress violence. Violence only breeds violence. The world will know this once we kill you!" Shigaraki said.

Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to walk over to the rest of his friends as he made eye contact with Shigaraki. "You know, Shigaraki, there's a reason why All Might always tries to go above and beyond for others. Since the beginning of his career, he has chosen to bear the weight of the world. To go through all of the lengths that he could to make sure that he would feel pain, so that others wouldn't have to. Trying to prevent everyone from feeling both physical and mental pain, you could even say it's his…hero way. One thing I've noticed is that everyone has a burning desire in their hearts. A will of fire, if you so please. Something that drives people to do what they do every day. I have been told that mine burns brightly, and so does your Shigaraki. Despite thinking of this as nothing more than a game, you still have a burning desire to defeat every obstacle in front of you. It is just a shame that our wills clash with one another. I know that you are here for All Might, and not me, but I do look forward to the day that we can face each other head on, Shigaraki." Naruto said, as he finally made it to his friends and stared Shigaraki down.

Shigaraki stopped for a moment and just blinked, processing what he said before he burst out into laughter. "Haha! I like this one Kurogiri. Maybe we can take him with us, keep him as a pet or something. But, never mind that, you were going to say something before your student interrupted you, All Might?"

Not realizing that he had interrupted the man, Naruto scratched the back of his neck before mouthing the word sorry to him.

"The eyes of white-collar criminals like you burn silently. You just want to enjoy yourself, don't you, you liar?" All Might said.

"Its three against six." Todoroki suddenly said, preparing to fight the villains again.

"Kacchan already exposed the fog's weakness!" Izuku agreed, slipping into a battle stance.

"Those guys are crazy, but if we back up All Might, we can push them back!" Kirishima added, as he activated his quirk.

"No!" All Might said, walking in front of the students and extending his arm. "Run away."

"You would've been in trouble if I hadn't done anything earlier, right?" Todoroki said, knowing All Might needed their help and couldn't prove him otherwise.

"That was a different story, Young Todoroki, thanks. But it's fine! Just watch as a pro hero gives it everything he's got." All Might said.

"All Might your bleeding! Besides times almost-" Izuku said, before cutting himself off.

All Might, however, just gave him a thumbs up as reassurance.

"Nomu, Kurogiri, get him." Shigaraki said. "I'll deal with the children. Now, let's clear this and go home." He said, before running at the students.

_'Ah, so the ugly monster does have a name…can't say the name makes it any better.'_ Naruto thought to himself, before shaking his head, which made his dizziness return, to get his head back in the game.

"Hey! We've got this after all!" Said Kirishima, trying to boost his classmates confidence.

All Might and the Nomu ran at each other. Punching each other so hard that it sent waves of wind out, kicking everyone backwards.

Watching the fight, Naruto knew that All Might could not go on like this much longer, before going over his power limit. That was not something Naruto needed right now. He needed All Might to be in the best position he could get him in for the war. Naruto allowed himself to be taken by the wind just long enough to land in the trees so he could use them as cover to help All Might.

Knowing that he needed a stronger attack then before, Naruto created another shadow clone, and used up the last of his energy making the Rasen-Shuriken jutsu to fight against the Nomu, hitting it at the same time as All Might's last hit, effectively destroying the Nomu as its dead body flew out of the USJ.

After delivering the attack, Naruto landed face-down in the dirt by All Might. With his adrenaline beginning to wear off, Naruto began to feel the effects of his injuries. The dizziness refused to go away, his breathes were coming out shorter and harder, he began to feel lightheaded, and just overall weak. Naruto hated this feeling, especially when the battle wasn't over.

Luckily, the smoke surrounding All Might seemed to cover Naruto. No one had noticed that he was missing and no one was able to see him on the ground. Naruto decided to stay there and try to lessen the symptoms of his injuries, deciding that he didn't need to get up until someone attacked again.

"Yeah I've really gotten weaker. At my prime, five hits would have been more than enough. But it took more than 300 hits. Now villains, I'm sure we'd all like to end this as soon as possible. What's wrong? You're not coming? You said you'd 'clear' this or something, right? Come and get me if you can." All Might said as he both stalled and taunted Shigaraki at the same time.

"As expected, it looks like there is no need for us to fight." Said Todoroki, a little disappointed that they couldn't help All Might.

"Midoriya! We can get out go here now! It'll be worse if we end up taken hostage instead!" Kirishima said.

"Well, what's wrong?" All Might asked the villains, again.

"I only had Nomu. That guy would've been able to go up against him without thinking about anything!" Shigaraki said.

"Tomura Shigaraki! Please calm yourself. looking carefully, I see that he was definitely weakened from the damage of the Nomu's attacks. Besides, the children appear to be frozen in fear. We still have underlings who can be used. There are likely only a few minutes left before reinforcements come. If you and I work together, we still have a chance of killing him." Kurogiri told Shigaraki sternly.

"Yeah…yeah. Yeah, that's right…that's right. We have no choice but to do it. I mean, we have the last boss right in front of our eyes." Shigaraki said agreeing with what Kurogiri said.

"All Might will do something about the main bad guys. Let's go help the others!" Kirishima said, turning to leave with his friends.

"Midoriya?" Todoroki asked, stopping to turn to Izuku, confused as to why he wasn't following them.

"Uh, guys," Said Kirishima in a concerned tone, bringing his friends attention to him. "Where did Naruto go? I don't see him anywhere."

"We can worry about that later." Bakugou said. "Whiskers probably shit his pants or something, right now we need to focus on taking down these villains, heh."

Shigaraki then started to run towards All Might, Kurogiri following close behind. "This is for Nomu!" Yelled Shigaraki.

Midoriya ran towards Kurogiri, attempting to punch him in his weak spot. But, Shigaraki stuck his hand through a portal Kurogiri made. Naruto used the last of his strength for a final attack. Coming out of where he was hiding, he tackled Shigaraki to the ground before he could grab Izuku. Then, the sound of a gunshot was heard as both of Shigaraki's hands were shot at. In a moment of surprise, Naruto loosed his grip on Shigaraki, which was all he needed to get Naruto on the ground and run toward Kurogiri.

Laying a couple feet away from Izuku, Naruto stayed down, knowing that he couldn't do anything without using Kumaras chakra.

"Are they here?" All Might asked, as everyone looked towards the entrance of the building.

"Sorry everyone! Sorry we're late! I gathered all who were immediately available." Said principle Nedzu as he walked into the building.

"I, Tenya Iida, class 1-A representative, have now returned!" Announced Iida, as he stood beside most of the heroes from U.A. and, to Naruto's relief, Endeavor and Shikamaru were also there. How Shikamaru managed to convince Endeavor that he should come, Naruto didn't know, but he was beyond relived that he did. A small smile made its way onto both of their faces as they made eye contact with each other. Making Naruto feel extremely relieved as his injuries began to hurt more and more minute by minute.

"Split up and protect the students!" Nedzu yelled, as the pro heroes scattered to take care of the villains.

"Aw man, they're here. Its game over now. Shall we go home and try again later, Kurogir—?" Shigaraki said, before the pro hero Snipper began to open fire on him.

Kurogiri began to use his quirk to protect his charge and get them out, when Thirteen used the last of their strength to try and capture Kurogiri. But the villain duo ended up getting away. Knowing that the main villain threats were finally gone, Naruto allowed himself to be put under the spell of dizziness for a few minutes.

When Naruto came out of his hazy state, he saw Izuku on the ground, very close to tears. The pro hero Cementoss, standing beside a wall he made. He also a stick figure that vaguely resembled All Might.

_'Ah, so this must be what he looks like in his weakened state.' _Naruto thought.

"Let's get you to the nurse's office while keeping you hidden. But man, you act recklessly every time, huh?" Said Cementoss.

"If I didn't act recklessly, I would've been killed. That's how strong the enemy was." Said All Might.

Now aware of the fact that they had still not noticed his presence, Naruto decided to make himself known.

"All…Might…?" He asked, sounding very hurt and confused to the three people around him.

Immediately, everyone freaked out.

"Ah! Young Uzumaki! How…how long have you been there?" Asked All Might.

"The whole time, I tackled Shigaraki before. And hey, don't worry, I'll keep your secrets. We all our weak points we don't want other to see." Naruto chuckled lightly at this, before throwing up blood onto the floor. "But uh…if someone could help me to the nearest medic that would be great, I don't think I can walk." Added Naruto.

_'Damn right kit you better not try to walk, you're barely hanging onto the land of the living as it is, soon you'll have to start using my chakra to remain awake, and I know how much you don't want to do that.' _Kurama said to Naruto.

Picking up all three males, Cementoss began to walk to walk with all of them over to where the medics station was.

"Naruto!" Said Shikamaru, as he raced over to the ambulance where Naruto was being put onto. Naruto reached out his hand to hold onto Shikamaru's, which the latter reciprocated.

"Hey Shikamaru…" Naruto said, smiling at his friend before promptly passing out, his adrenaline finally gone.

"Do you happen to know his medical history? If so, you can ride with us to the hospital, but if not, you'll have to meet us there." One of the paramedics working on Naruto said.

Looking out the doors of the ambulance, Shikamaru made eye contact with Endeavor. Receiving a nod from the older man, Shikamaru told the paramedic that he knew Naruto's medical history, before the doors were closed and the ambulance took off.

* * *

"Ok, aside from two boys and three teachers, everyone else seems unharmed." Said a detective.

The students quickly began talking to each other before the deceptive spoke up again. "All right, let's get everyone back to their classroom, you won't need to question them until later right?" He asked a policemen, to which he nodded.

"Um, excuse me, what about Aizawa-sensei?" Asked Asui.

"Comminuted fractures in both arms and a facial fracture. Fortunately, there does not seem to be any serious brain damage. However, his orbital floor has broken into small pieces and his eyes may suffer from its aftereffects. That's what the doctor said." The deceptive told the class.

"What about Thirteen?" Ashido asked.

"Thirteen has been treated. The laceration from the back to upper arm was bad, but Thirteen will survive. All Might will also survive. Recovery Girl's healing is enough to treat him, so he's in the nurses office." The detective said.

"Deku…!" Said Ochako, stepping forward, as Iida did the same.

"What about Midoriya?" He asked.

"Midori…? Oh the treatment in the nurse's office is enough for him, too." The detective said

"That's good" Said Ochako, as everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, what about Naruto?" Kirishima asked the detective.

"His liver was severely injured and caused him to bleed internally. He also had several broken ribs that caused one of his lungs to collapse on the way to the hospital, and some bruised organs along his abdomen. As of right now, he's in a stable condition, but he hasn't made it out of the woods yet." Said the detective, as the students of class 1-A began to worry for their blue-eyed classmate.

"Now, go back to your classroom." He said.

* * *

"So you had to use a little more power than expected, but that's fine considering the situation." Shikamaru told Naruto, as he leaned back in the hospital chair that he was sitting in. Naruto had just woken up for the first time since he fell unconscious and was now explaining the event at the USJ to Shikamaru. "All Might is a little more injured than we would have liked, but with everything just be happy no one died or got kidnapped. We need an inside man on the villain side soon, I hope Tsuande hurries with that. This 'League of Villains' has been silent until now and despite using a bunch of low-level criminals they were surprisingly hush about the entire situation. On the upside, with your comment about having experience, it will make it easier for your classmates to believe that we come from a military background." Shikamaru continued, as he lazily looked at Naruto through half lidded eyes.

"I just hope that they allow me to go home soon, things are gonna start getting exciting real fast, I would rather be preparing instead of sitting in some foul-smelled hospital room." Naruto told Shikamaru, throwing him a foxy grin. The only response he got was an eye roll from the lazy genius.

* * *

**A/N: Here's another early chapter! I would feel bad making you guys wait another two weeks before finishing this arc so here it is! What did you guys think of this chapter? How are y'all liking the story so far? This will be the last chapter to vote for Naruto's love interest before the poll closes, so be sure to tell me who you want him with!**

**Hinata-22**

**Sasuke-7**

**Momo-22**

**Tsuyu-5**

**Shikamaru-25**

**Todoroki-5**

**Mina-2**

**Toru-1**

**Tokoyami-3**

**Uraraka-1**

**Izuku-3**

**Nejire-1**

**Jirou-1**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_"I'll give them a week before they come knocking on the door and asking about the USJ." Shikamaru told Naruto as he took a drag from his cigarette. They both stood outside of their apartment complex, sharing a cigarette to celebrate Naruto's discharge from the hospital. _

_"You underestimate them Shikamaru. If it doesn't happen in class, it will probably take three days at most before they come knocking on the door." Naruto told him, laughing lightly before taking the cigarette from Shikamaru and raising it to his lips. _

_"Looser buys the other one dinner." Shikamaru said, turning to look at Naruto, completely serious about the conditions for their bet. _

_"You're on!" Naruto told him. Shikamaru then took his cigarette back from Naruto, and laid his arm across Naruto's shoulders, content to stay like that for a couple more minutes. _

* * *

"Hey, did you watch the news last night? Did you see how everyone was on-screen for a second?" Naruto could hear his invisible classmate saying this as he stood outside his closed classroom door. This would be his first time seeing everyone since the USJ incident. And not having any of his classmates numbers, he hadn't spoken to any of them at all. He knew that Izuku and his mom had stopped by the other day, but he hadn't been discharged yet and there was no time to visit them before school was starting back up.

Naruto was still debating on how to enter the classroom when he heard his classmate continue.

"I didn't stand out at all…" She said, sighing to herself.

"It's hard to stand out looking like that, huh?" Naruto heard Ojiro say in response. Rather than continue to stand outside the classroom, Naruto decided that now was the best time to enter the classroom. Pushing the door completely open, Naruto said,

"Be glad you guys got any screen time. They didn't even have footage of my presence there! I was in the hospital and no news network even talked about me in passing! And there wasn't one news article about me!"

"Naruto!" Ochako exclaimed, jumping out of her seat with her hands on her desk. Naruto's head turned to where she was as he flinched where he was standing, startled from his classmates outburst.

"Yes?" He asked her.

"You're okay! They only told us about your condition the day of the attack which wasn't the best news. After that they refused to tell anyone anything about your condition. We were really beginning to worry…" Ochako said, her gaze falling towards the end of her statement.

"Hey, hey, hey now there's no reason to worry! I'm alright I'm standing right here! There was no reason. To worry! There's no way I'm dying before I become a pro hero! I didn't run in to help with the intention of dying and I didn't, so wipe the frown off your face!" Naruto told Ochako as he walked over to her and pulled her into a brief side hug.

"She's not wrong Naruto, you had a lot of us worried. I tried to stop by a couple times with my mom but Shikamaru didn't have time to talk, or no one was there. We all started to fear for the worst." Izuku told Naruto, happy to see his friend but a bit hurt that he didn't know anything before his classmates.

"Yeah Shikamaru told me that. I was going to stop by yesterday to let you know I was okay, but I didn't get discharged until pretty late in the afternoon. When I got home I just kinda passed out and I didn't see you this morning on the way to school. Sorry about that." Naruto said apologetically, throwing Izuku a sheepish smile as he starched the back of his neck.

"It's fine, but I'll have to give you my number later. Just in case anything like this ever happens again it will be easier to check on you."

Naruto nodded to Izuku before making his way to his seat and sitting down. He turned to his classmates sitting by him to begin a conversation, but he wasn't able to as fast footsteps could be heard from the hall making their way to 1-A's classroom.

"Everyone! Morning homeroom is about to start! Stop talking and take your seats!" Iida said, as he ran into the classroom and stood at the front of the class, making wild hand gestures.

"I hate to break it to you Iida…but you're the only one in here that's standing." Naruto said, hiding his smile behind his hand.

"Uzumaki-san, you're okay!" Iida said, dropping his hands to his sides.

"Just call me Naruto Iida, and I wouldn't be here if I wasn't okay, would I?" Naruto responded as he leaned back in his seat and smirked at his classmate.

"I can see that! But are you sure that you're okay? Considering your injuries, it would be wise for you to take a couple of days off from school. Have the doctors cleared you to be here? As your class rep, I must know these things. Are you able to participate in any physical activity?" Iida began asking Naruto, his hands returning to making their wild motions.

"Yes Iida I'm sure I'm okay. I don't need to take any time off. The doctors have cleared me to be here and yes, I can participate in hero training or anything else requiring physical activity. But seriously, sit down before you get yelled at by a teacher."

Iida then began to slowly make his way to his seat, eyeing Naruto out of the corner of his eye as if he didn't truly believe that he was okay. Before any further conversation could be made, the classroom door opened again.

"Morning." Said a mummified Aizawa from the doorway. If it wasn't for the same careless voice that Aizawa always had, Naruto wasn't sure if he could believe that that was his teacher. Another mystery to Naruto was how the man was able to move, let alone get changed. He decided that he was just going to accept what was happening and not think about it.

_'Wouldn't want to hurt your brain to much now by thinking to hard kit.' _Naruto's tendent said. Rather than give him the satisfaction of an answer, Naruto returned his focus to his teacher, who was now walking towards the front of the room.

"My well-being doesn't matter. More importantly, the fight is not yet over." He said.

"Fight?" Bakugou questioned, looking determined.

"Don't tell me…" Izuku said, fear written in both his tone and face.

"The U.A. sports festival is drawing near." Aizawa continued, ignoring both of his students.

"That's such a normal school event!" The class yelled, ensuring that the entire campus could hear them.

"Wait a minute-" Kaminari said, preventing his classmates from continuing to yell.

"Is it okay to have a sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?" Jirou continued for him.

"What if they attack us again or something…?" Ojiro said, voicing everyone's worry.

"Apparently, they think of it as U.A. showing that our crisis management system is solid as a rock by holding the event. Security will also be strengthened to five times that of previous years. Above all, our sports festival is a huge chance. It's not an event to be cancelled because of a few villains. Our sports festival is one of Japan's biggest events. In the past, the Olympics were called a festival of sports and the whole country was crazy about them. As you know, with reductions in scale and population, they are now a shell of their former glory. And now, for Japan, what has taken place of those Olympics is the U.A. sports festival!" Aizawa told the class, answering their questions while also giving a mini history lesson.

"Of course, all the top heroes around the country will be watching. For scouting purposes!" Yaoyorozu said, clenching her fist in determination to be scouted.

"After we graduate, it's typical to join a pro agency as a sidekick." Kaminari said, adding to Yaoyorozu's statement.

"A lot of people miss their chance to become independent after that and become eternal sidekicks, though. Kaminari, I feel like you'd be one of them since your dumb." Jirou told him, effectively raining on his parade.

"Of course, joining a famous hero agency will get you more experience and popularity. Time is limited. If you expect to go pro, then the path to your future will open up at this event. Once a year, a total of three chances. No aspiring heroes can afford to miss this event. If you understand that, then don't slack on your preparations!" Aizawa said, trying in his own way to get the class excited about the upcoming event.

"Hai!" Was the prompt response that could be heard from the class.

"Homeroom is dismissed." Aizawa said, walking out the door of the classroom, and leaving the students to ponder on what he said.

* * *

"Uraraka?" Izuku asked, he was the first person to speak to the girl since the just-recent accident in the classroom were her personality completely changed. Everyone was still shocked about the girls demonic voice as she ran around the classroom telling everyone that she was going to do her best during the sports festival.

"Yes?" She said to him, seemingly normal again.

"Why did you decide to come to U.A. and become a pro hero?" Izuku asked, as the two of them, along with Naruto and Iida, made their way to the cafeteria.

"Well…um…for money." She said, her voice quiet as she started at the floor.

"For money?! You want to become a hero for money?" Izuku said, shocked that someone would want to become a pro just for that reason.

"To boil it down simply, yes… Sorry it's such an unwholesome reason. You two have such admirable motivations, it's embarrassing…" She said, her face turning red from embarrassment as her words hurried out of her mouth.

"Why? How is having a goal to support your livelihood not admirable?" Iida asked her.

"Right. But its unexpected." Izuku told her.

"My family owns a construction company, but we haven't had any work at all. So we're flat broke. This isn't really something to tell other people though…" She said, running her hands through her hair.

"Construction…" Iida muttered.

"With her quirk, if she gets licensed then it'd bring costs way down, right?" Izuku asked, looking at Iida.

"She could make any raw material float. They wouldn't need any heavy equipment." Iida said.

"Right? That's what I told dad when I was little! But…I'll definitely become a hero and make money to allow my parents to take it easy." She said, looking more determined than ever.

"I mean sure, why wouldn't you want to do that?" Naruto asked. "Being a hero doesn't mean that you have to have everyone's best interest at heart. While it is an admirable goal, so is being a hero for your family, or even for yourself. Don't think you have the wrong intentions to becoming a hero, it's just as important as everyone else's in the hero course." Naruto told her, speaking up for the first time during the conversation and he gave her a smile and a thumbs up.

"Bravo! Bravo Uraraka, Bravo!" Iida said, throwing his arms over his head to clap for her. Iida was interrupted, however, by All Might running over to them from down the hallway.

"Young Midoriya and Uzumaki are here!" He said, pointing a finger at each respective boy.

All Might? What's the matter?" Izuku said, shocked by his appearance in the hallway.

"Lunch! Wanna eat together?" All Might asked he two boys, suddenly becoming shy as he held up his bento that was in his other hand.

Midoriya and Naruto shared a look with each other, before looking at their other two friends and then responding to All Might by saying, "I'd love to." And walking over to him.

* * *

"Only about fifty minutes?" Izuku asked All Might. The duo had just finished explaining the history of One For All to Naruto, as well as All Might's condition. Naruto had a hard time acting attentive and shocked at all of the information. He had been briefed on it so many times that he could probably recite it all in his sleep. However, it seemed the two believed his act as they all started talking about more recent information. This is when Naruto actually started to give more of his attention to the conversation.

"That's the limit to how long I can use my power now. I overdid it to many times. That Nomu was also a tough opponent. And it hurt. I can barely maintain muscle form for an hour and a half now." All Might said, as he poured the three boys tea.

"About that, sorr-" Izuku began, before All Might laughed as blood came out of his mouth.

"You don't have to apologize! Man we really are alike, you and me. Have some tea." He said to both Naruto and Izuku as he handed them both cups.

"Thanks." They both said, before taking a sip of the tea.

"More importantly, about the sports festival, you still can't regulate One For All, can you? What'll you do?" All Might asked Izuku.

"But there was this one time! When I aimed a smash at that brain villain, there was no backlash."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that! What was different that time?"

"Different… the biggest difference between that and the One For All that id been using was…it was the first time I tried to use this power on a person."

"You were probably still hung up on what Thirteen said, about quirks killing people. It was something you did subconsciously most likely, but you weren't using 100% of the power in your arm. You were aware that you could kill so you aimed to only hurt, not kill, and didn't use all of your power." Naruto said, making it known that he was still there while also trying to help Izuku.

"Well, it is progress, so either way I'm proud of you." All Might told Izuku. "Frankly, I don't have much time left as the Symbol of Peace. And some of those with built-up villainous intent are starting to realize. I granted you my power because I want you to succeed me. You still feel the same as you did back then, don't you?" All Might said, looking away from the window he had walked over to and turning to Izuku.

"Hai!" He said, standing to look at All Might with a determined gaze in his eyes.

"Then, the time has come for you to show that. The U.A. sports festival is something pro heroes, no, the whole country is watching closely. A big event! That is what I brought you here to talk about! The next All Might…the fledging Symbol of Peace, Izuku Midoriya! I want you to tell the world 'I am here!'" All Might told Izuku, looking at him seriously.

"Well, that won't happen until Izuku is able to actually control his quirk so he doesn't self-destruct every time he uses it." Naruto said, effectively breaking the tense atmosphere in the room. "I want to thank you both for trusting me with this secret. I will not betray your trust. Izuku," Naruto said, turning his body towards the boy. "If you ever need help brainstorming ideas for control over your quirk, let me know. It's the least I can do after you guys told me all of this. I'll see you back in class Izuku. Thank you for inviting me All Might."

"Young Uzumaki, the least we could do is trust you with the information after your help at the USJ. I would like to thank you for taking that hit for me, I might have revealed my true self in front of everyone if I took that hit. However, it does disturb me that you felt the need to take that hit. I am grateful that no lasting damage happened to you, and I am now in your favor because of your help." All Might told Naruto.

"There's no need to worry about it All Might. I was just doing what I thought was right, and I have no intention of dying before I become a pro hero, so you don't have to worry about me. Besides, I will always protect my classmates to the best of my ability. Just continue with what you're doing to the best of your ability. I'm sure the other pros can pick up your slack until Izuku is ready." Naruto said, before turning and walking out of the room and towards his classroom.

_'And it just keeps on getting more interesting…'_ Naruto thought to himself as he made his way to his classroom.

* * *

"I'm home!" Naruto called out, as he closed his apartment door behind him.

"In here!" He heard Shikamaru call back from the couch. He briefly raised his hand before bringing it back to his side. Naruto took off his shoes and bag, setting them by the front door, and then made his way over to the couch where Shikamaru was.

"How was work today?" Naruto asked Shikamaru as he stood in front of him. Naruto took a moment to figure out where he should sit, before realizing that Shikamaru had left no room for him on the couch, as he was lying across it. Mentally shrugging his shoulders, Naruto climbed on top of Shikamaru and laid down on his stomach. His cheek smooshed against Shikamaru's collarbone.

"Pretty boring, Endeavor was in a bad mood so I mainly just got to watch everyone kiss his ass for the entire day." Shikamaru said, bringing his right hand to run his fingers through Naruto's hair while he held a remote in his left. "I figured that we should try to catch up on pop culture in our free time, so which mainstream tv show did you want to start with? Psycho-Pass is one of the more recent shows from what I've heard, so did you want to start with that? Just so we can avoid telling everyone we haven't seen it yet?" Shikamaru asked Naruto, turning his head to look down at him.

"Yeah sounds good, but I just learned some stuff today about All Might and One For All you should hear before we start. We should also probably write to Tusande about it." Said Naruto, sitting up so he was on Shikamaru's legs.

"Yeah? What did you hear?" Asked Shikamaru, moving his legs out from underneath Naruto and sitting up, giving Naruto his full attention.

"Well-" Naruto started, before the sound of the doorbell ringing was heard. Naruto and Shikamaru briefly exchanged looks, before Naruto groaned and stood up to answer the door. Shikamaru had to answer the door when Naruto was in the hospital, so it was Naruto's turn to answer it.

"Oh Aizawa-sensei? I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here? Is there something you need from me?" Naruto asked, surprised by his teachers appearance. Out of everyone he thought to be at the door, Aizawa was the last person he would have thought to show up. Especially in his mummified state.

"Nothing's wrong Uzumaki, but I am here on behalf of the school." Aizawa told Naruto, his voice as emotionless as ever.

"Oh, well did you want to come inside? Anything I can get you to drink?" Naruto asked him.

"I would love to come inside and some water would be nice if it's not any trouble." Aizawa said, before walking inside the house. Naruto then lead him over to the couch.

Shikamaru, who had at some point during their conversation gotten up from the couch and went into the kitchen, emerged with a glass of water for Aizawa.

"Thank you, and you must be Nara, Uzumaki's roommate. I'm Aizawa, Naruto's homeroom teacher." Aizawa said, introducing himself to Naruto.

"Wow, I'm surprised U.A. even knows who I am, considering I moved in after Naruto started his schooling there. But, I'm sure as a pro-hero and teacher your busy, so I'll leave you two to talk." Shikamaru said, before making his way to his bedroom.

"Actually," Aizawa said, stopping Shikamaru in his tracks and causing him turn around. "I was hoping I would run into both of you here. I need some confirmation from you about Naruto."

"Oh, okay." Shikamaru said, shrugging his shoulders, before taking a seat beside Naruto.

"Well first, no doctors note was turned in from the school, so I have come here to collect that, as well as get verbal confirmation from Nara that you are cleared to be at school and join in on all activities." Aizawa told the two boys.

"I know it seems odd, but Naruto has always been a fast healer. He is okay to do everything at school. The doctor told me. I'll go grab the note for you guys." Shikamaru said, before standing up and walking out of the room.

"The second thing I'm here for, is to thank you Uzumaki. While I was hoping none of the students would have to fight, I'm glad it was mainly limited to you and Midoriya when it came to taking down the leaders. You both did a great job, despite your injuries. I also wanted to thank you for healing me. The doctors told me I would have been in worse shape if it wasn't for your healing, so thank you for that." By the time Aizawa had finished talking, Shikamaru had returned with the doctor's note.

Standing up, Aizawa walked over to Shikamaru to meet him in the middle of the room. "My thanks also extends to you, Nara. I'm told that Endeavor was helpful in clearing out the villains and he wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for you. But that's all I came here for. You two enjoy the rest of your evening. I can show myself out." Aizawa said, his voice flat besides expressing his gratitude, as he walked out the door before the two boys could say anything.

"Well, that really wasn't what I was expecting your teacher to be like." Shikamaru told Naruto.

"Yeah he is definitely…different from the other pro-heroes at the school. But anyway, I'm gonna go grab a scroll to write my report, I'll tell you what I learned as I write it. Get that show started as I tell you, when I'm done, I'm expecting to be cuddled as we watch it." Naruto told Shikamaru.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru said, sighing deeply as he looked at Naruto.

"Everything that we do as a couple is troublesome to you." Naruto said playfully, before walking over to Shikamaru and giving him a quick kiss, which the other reciprocated. Naruto then walked out of the room in search of a scroll.

* * *

**A/N: So what did you guys think of this chapter? The sports festival is coming up next, is there anyone specific you wanted to see Naruto team up with or fight against? Who do you think Naruto should intern with? Also I don't know if Psycho-Pass is actually number one in Japan right now or not, I just googled poplar Japanese shows and it was the first one that came up. As you guys probably guessed, Shikamaru did get the most votes. I was going to have them build up a relationship but the more I thought about it the more an already established relationship between the two made sense to me. Anyway, here's the final results from the poll in case anyone wanted to know.**

**Hinata-31**

**Sasuke-7**

**Momo-29**

**Tsuyu-6**

**Shikamaru-39**

**Todoroki-5**

**Mina-2**

**Toru-1**

**Tokoyami-3**

**Uraraka-1**

**Izuku-3**

**Nejire-1**

**Jirou-1**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_Naruto understood as soon as he joined ANBU what his job was and understood that on the job he needed to get rid of his emotions or terrible things could happen. If he let his emotions get in the way a number of comrades could die, or the mission could fail, causing various destructive repercussions depending on the job. However, the more time he spent taking up missions, the more he forgot about his emotions and how to act like a functioning person in society. So, in order to not seem insane and to not have the village fear him more than they already did, he created his persona. His go-lucky idiot persona. He figured if he showed his true intelligence among everything else, everyone would become more fearful of him. And he was right, as time went on, the less the villagers paid attention to him and the more missions he got to take._

_But Naruto still didn't know how to act like an actual person. He had forgotten about what life was like beyond his two masks. _

_This is where Shikamaru came in. Despite also being in ANBU and having a persona of someone who is unintelligent, he still knew who he truly was. And over time, he helped Naruto figure out who he truly was. _

_Naruto was unsure of how it happened for Shikamaru, but for him it wasn't like in the stories. There was never a specific moment or a place in time where he felt differently towards Shikamaru. As far as he knew, his feelings for Shikamaru always were. Naruto assumed this was because he had always just loved Shikamaru. _

_When they established their relationship, sealed with a kiss, it just confirmed for Naruto that Shikamaru shared his feelings toward the other. And nothing changed within their relationship, aside from being more physical with each other._

* * *

Wh-wh-what's going on!?" Ochako yelled, as she looked at the crowd of students that had formed outside of the classroom. As soon as the dismissal bell rang, the door to the classroom had been thrown open and the crowd had appeared before anyone had the chance to finish packing their things.

"What business do you have with class A?" Iida asked the crowd, as professional as ever, as he made movements with his hand.

"With everyone crowding the door like this, no one can get out. Anyone have any ideas to get them to leave? I want to go home and I doubt shouting at them would work." Naruto said, walking up to stand by Izuku with his hands by his side. If he was honest, he was annoyed with the whole situation. Naruto had been up with Haru and Jiraiya all night talking about the sports festival, so he didn't sleep. He also had to sit all day long, which made him even more tired. To top it all off, his sleep deprivation was causing him a major headache that he didn't have the energy to deal with. All he wanted to do was go home, cuddle with his boyfriend, and sleep. And currently, he had a mass crowd of students preventing him from doing that.

"They're here to scout out the enemy, chubby cheeks." Bakugou said, calmly (which surprised most of the class because he yelled at everyone who wasn't a teacher) as he made his way over to the blocked classroom door. "We're the ones who made it out of the villains attack. They probably want to check us out before the sports festival."

"That's Kacchan in neutral." Izuku whispered to his nearby classmates, trying to explain why he was suddenly so calm.

"There's no point in doing stuff like that. Out of my way, extras!" Bakugou said to everyone blocking his path as he stopped in front of the crowd.

"Stop calling people 'extras' just because you don't know them!" Iida yelled, hands moving in the ever so familiar gesture. Izuku and Ochako, on the other hand, just looked shocked at what their classmate said to the crowd.

"I came here to see what the famous class A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant." Said a tired looking, purple haired boy as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd.

_'Honestly, this kid is looking how I feel right now. Maybe I can get him to help move everyone so we can both go home and sleep.' _Naruto thought to himself, not willing to focus on anything but getting home.

"Are all students in the hero course like this?" At this, the purple haired boy took a momentary pause in what he was saying to watch Iida, Ochako, and Izuku all quickly shake their head from side-to-side in the universal 'no' signal.

"Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned. There are quite a few people who enrolled in general studies or other courses, because they didn't make it into the hero course. Did you know that? The school has left those of us a chance. Depending on the results of the sports festival, they'll consider out transfer into the hero course. And it seems they may also transfer people out." At this, some of Naruto's classmates seemed shocked, which he did not understand. Based on previous year's sports festivals that Naruto had also spent the night watching, it wasn't the most uncommon thing for someone in the hero class their first year to not be there the second, and someone from a different class to be in the hero course their second year. Naruto guessed that his classmates just didn't pay enough attention to the students in each class, hence the shock that they were all displaying. After coming to this conclusion, Naruto went back to focusing on how to get out of the school.

"Scouting out the enemy? I, at least, came to say that even if you're in the hero course, if you get too carried away, ill sweep your feet out from under you. I came with a declaration of war." This seemed to be the end of the purple haired boys speech, as he and Bakugou had a brief stare off before another student spoke up.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! I'm from class B next door! I heard you fought against villains, so I came to hear 'bout it! Don't get so full of yourself! If you bark too much, it'll be embarrassing for you durin' the real fight!" Another student yelled at the class from further back in the crowd. Bakugou had apparently deemed this person not worth his time, as he stepped out of the hallway and glared at the other kids so they would make a path for him.

"You ignorin' me, bastard?!" The same student yelled, receiving no comment from Bakugou.

"Wait a minute, Bakugou! What're you gonna do about all this? It's your fault that everyone's hating on us!" Kirishima asked Bakugou's retreating form.

"It doesn't matter." Bakugou told his classmate, giving him a side glance.

"Huh?!" Was the ever so intelligent reply that came from Kirishima.

"It doesn't matter as long as you rise to the top." He said, before turning around again and walking away. Naruto was tempted to follow him, but the students did not leave a clear path to follow in Bakugou's wake.

"That's so simple and manly!" Kirishima stated, as a single tear fell from his eye. Moved by Bakugou's manliness in a way that reminded Naruto of Lee being moved by the 'youthfulness' of the leaf shinobi.

"Huh?" Kaminari asked his classmates, perplexed and confused by the situation.

"You said it." Replied Sato.

"Huh?" Kaminari repeated, still not understanding what had just occurred.

"The top huh? There is truth in that." Tokyoyami said, ignoring his confused classmate.

"Hang on, don't be tricked! He just made more pointless enemies!" Kaminari said, fretting over the actions of his classmates.

"Then that's something that will come back to bite Bakugou in the ass in two weeks." Naruto said, before making his way out the door. The crowd was more just standing there and standing instead of talking or screaming, so Naruto decided to take his chances with being thrown around and just push his way through the crowd. Making his way successfully through the crowd, he began his journey home.

* * *

Ochako, Sero, Ashido, and Shoji all stood outside of Naruto's apartment door, glancing at each other as they tried to decide who should knock on the door first. The group had been pondering about Naruto's words at the USJ since they heard them.

_"Please, compared to my life you all have lived cookie-cutter lives. This may be my first time on a battlefield with people whose quirks are so different than mine, but I have more experience then all of you. So let me handle it, and don't join in unless someone is about to die."_

They were all unsure of how their classmate was able to have_ '__more experience__' _than them. Surely Naruto wouldn't have been talking about petty fights he got in with classmates throughout elementary and middle school. Plus, the way he said it with such confidence assured them that he really did have experience that the rest of them did not.

It wasn't hard for them to figure out where Naruto lived, Ochako just had to text Izuku saying that Naruto forgot a notebook and she wanted to return it to him so he could study. Izuku had sent her Naruto's address in less than five minutes. She then texted everyone in the group chat they all made to meet up and they all headed over to his house together.

Before anyone could raise their fist to knock on the door, a voice behind them spoke up.

"Judging by your uniforms, I'd say that you all are Naruto's classmates." The group of four turned around to see a man walking towards them, cigarette in his mouth and hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Yeah Shikamaru. It's good to see you again! Um…I don't know how much Naruto told you about the USJ, but we wanted to talk to him about something he said." Replied Ochako, which earned her confused looks from her remaining three classmates.

"Uraraka you know him?" Asked Ashido, tilting her head to the side as she looked between Uraraka and the now-named Shikamaru that was approaching them.

"I'm Naruto's roommate, we grew up together." Shikamaru responded, as he put out his cigarette and moved to unlock the door. "Naruto told me about what happened and to expect that you guys would be stopping by soon. I'll let you guys in, but I don't know if he's awake or not right now." Shikamaru continued as he opened the door and ushered the four students in, closing and locking the door behind himself. Everyone took off their shoes and Shikamaru lead the group to the kitchen, were Naruto could be seen drinking a glass of water.

"Oh good, this saves me the trouble of having to find you. Your classmates are here to begin your interrogation." Shikamaru said, walking past Naruto to grab himself a glass.

"I hope you know this means I win the bet." Naruto told him.

A sound that resembled someone snorting could be heard coming from Shikamaru. "Is that all you can think about right now?" He asked, filling his own glass with water.

"No, I'm also thinking about how the house is too clean and quiet. Where's Jiraiya?"

"Oh, he left this morning, said he was going to do research but he didn't tell me how long he was going to be gone for."

"The research that doesn't matter or the research we like?"

"Good question, I don't know, he didn't say."

"Oh, okay. Well anyway Shika, these are my classmates Ochako, Ashido, Sero, and Shoji." Naruto told Shikamaru, pointing at each person as he said their name. "Guys, this is my roommate, Nara Shikamaru. You can call him Shikamaru though." At this, Shikamaru lifted a hand to wave lazily towards them. "Did you guys want anything to eat or drink?" Naruto asked them, receiving headshakes as his answer "Ah ok, right into 20 questions then I see." Naruto told them, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against his counter, facing his classmates to give them his full attention.

"Who's Jiraiya?" Ashido asked, unable to help herself from asking.

"Jiraiya is my godfather, but I'm assuming that's not what you all came here to talk about." Naruto said, slightly teasing Ashido at the end of his statement

"No, we're here to talk about what you said at USJ about having more experience than us." Shoji said, his tone as serious as ever.

_'Just get him to cover his left eye, make his hair defy gravity, and give him a perverted book to call him the Kakashi-sensei of this world.' _Naruto and Shikamaru thought to themselves.

"Well, to make a long story short, I served in the military for two years. That's what gives me battle experience." Naruto told his classmates.

His classmates blinked once, twice, and then three times, trying to process what Naruto had told them. Sero was the first to come out of his shock. "I'm sorry…what?!" He asked, thoroughly confused by the situation.

"Ah that's right, only Ochako was there that day. So basically, I come from a country just next to Japan. It's very rural and we don't have good internet there. Were kind of cut off from the rest of the world in a sense. We had a large-scale attack on our village the day I was born that killed over half of our village, my parents included. Like I said, we were small and don't have a lot of resources so the orphanage quickly became overwhelmed. My dad had connection with our leader as a politician before he passed, so our village leader was able to get me an apartment and funds from the village to live while I went to the academy, which is basically elementary and junior high school where I come from. I graduated at 12 and instead of going to high school joined the military. Partly because I wanted to protect my village but also because I wouldn't be able to pay for high school and my housing while just working part time. My godfather-Jiraiya-traveled a lot for his work so he didn't know about the villain attack until a couple months later when some people from the village wrote to him, but by then I had already gotten my housing arrangement settled so he didn't see the need to come and raise me. A couple years later I ran into him when I was 14 and found out that he was my godfather. We talked and he ended up apologizing for never coming to see me. To make up for lost time and help my achieve a dream I had had since I was a kid, he agreed to help me move out here and train me for U.A., as well as pay for everything while I go to school here." Naruto explained to his classmates.

"Joining the military isn't that uncommon were we're from. We're small so we barely have nay pro heroes around. I joined when I graduated, same as Naruto. But because my IQ was so high, they made me help with battle tactics while also giving me a high school education. Part of this is why the Endeavor Hero Agency agreed to hire me, that is because of the experience I already had." Shikamaru told Naruto's classmates before they could ask him any questions.

The four students just started at the two boys in shock, Ashido and Ochako's eyes filled with pity.

"Did…did you have to…kill people?" Ashido asked quietly, it was even hard for her to ask the question.

"Yeah, but you have to look at who your killing. Our country is in a constant state of war. The villages don't exactly all get along with each other. When Shikamaru and I killed people, it was always those who were armed with deadly weapons and wished to kill innocent civilians. We weren't killing those who robbed clothing stores or committed other petty crimes, the police arrested them. Every kill I made was to protect the innocent in my village. Before you ask, yes, it is hard sometimes, but I don't regret killing the people I killed. I was getting rid of terrible traitors and other evil people in order to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Every kill I made was one less threat to my village, meaning one less innocent civilian dead. And I'm sure Shikamaru feels the same way." Naruto told his classmates, as he glanced at Shikamaru who was nodding along to his statement.

"Does the school know?" Asked Sero.

"To be honest I really don't know, because we left the military instead of being discharged, and because we served a different country, I don't know if it would show up on our record, but it doesn't matter. Even if the school did know, I'm not a villain and everything I did in the military is protected by law so they wouldn't be considered villainous acts." Naruto said.

"I can tell that you all are having a hard time processing this. You all should go home and think upon what you have been told by us today. If you have any further questions, text or call Naruto. Or, you guys could always come back here to ask. We just ask that you don't go telling everyone about this. Our time serving is not something that we like to talk about and being in the military is generally frowned upon here. We would like to avoid telling people as much as possible." Shikamaru said, before Naruto wrote down his number for his classmates and the two boys showed the four out the door.

* * *

"Man…I wanted to wear my costume." Ashido said, pouting at the regular U.A. gym clothes that she had to wear. Class 1-A was currently gathered in one of the waiting rooms as they waited to be brought over to compete in the sports festival.

"We have to wear them in order to keep everything fair." Said Ojiro as he was stretching in preparation for the festival.

"I wonder what the first round's gonna be…" Said Sato, as he sat with his hands folded in front of him, trying to contain how anxious he was about the festival.

"No matter what comes, we have no choice but to deal with it." Said Tokoyami, ever so composed in check of his emotions.

"Right." Shoji said, nodding in agreement with Tokoyami.

"Everyone, are you ready? We will be entering soon!" Iida told the class, excited about the festival while also trying to maintain his class rep image.

Naruto was about to stand up from his chair next to Izuku, when he noticed Todoroki walking over to Izuku, with a different air around him.

"Midoriya." He said, emotionless as ever.

"Todoroki? What is it?" Izuku asked, standing up from his seat to face his classmate that, to Naruto's knowledge, had never talked to him before.

"Looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you." Todoroki told him bluntly.

"Huh?" Izuku asked looking shocked, before looking down and agreeing with Todoroki's statement.

"But…All Might has his eye on you, doesn't he? I'm not trying to pry about that, but I'm going to beat you." Todoroki told him, looking determined.

"Oh? The strongest in the class is declaring war?" Kaminari said, leaning back in his chair to take a look at the two.

"Hey, hey, hey! Why are you picking a fight all the sudden? Not now, we're about to start!" Kirishima said, walking over and putting his hand on Todoroki's shoulder to try and diffuse the situation. Todoroki just brought his hand up to shrug off Kirishima's hand.

"We're not here to play at being friends. So what does it matter?" Todoroki said, before walking away from the pair.

"Todoroki, I don't know what you're thinking when you say you'll beat me, but of course you're better than me. I think you're more capable than most people. Looking at it objectively…" Izuku said, causing Todoroki to stop walking and look at him.

"Midoriya, you probably shouldn't talk to negatively." Kirishima said, bringing his hands up in the universal surrender gesture to try and stop Izuku from continuing.

"But, everyone-even the students from the other courses are aiming for the top with everything they've got! I can't afford to fall behind. I'll be going for it with everything I have, too." Izuku said, making his own declaration to Todoroki.

"Yeah." Todoroki replied, before walking out of the waiting room, quickly followed by the rest of the class when they got over the shock of what happened.

"Hey Naruto, can I talk to you for a sec? Just a quick sidebar?" Sero asked as the class made their way out of the waiting room.

"Sure man, what's up?" Naruto asked him. Sero looked behind him and waited until the entire class had left before continuing.

"So I don't want to come off as rude, but Midoriya and Todoroki's conversation just had me thinking." Sero began. "I'm sure with your military training and experience that your more powerful than you let on. I'm sure of it because I saw it at the USJ. And I just want to know, but why don't you show your true strength to the class? Everyone in this class, and probably the other classes too, spent the last two weeks training their ass off to give it their all today. Did you even train for this? Both of us were lucky enough to get spots in this class. I feel like we owe it to everyone to give it our all today. I don't know I just…doesn't only feel right to give it your all, especially in a course like this? You said it was your dream to be a pro hero, but I can't help but feel like you were lying about that, especially when you half-ass everything. Why do you purposely lie to everyone like that? You could make it up to everyone today man. I don't know…just think about it." Sero told Naruto before walking out of the room.

_'Hmmmm I would say you more quarter-ass everything than half-ass, unless it comes to your grades'_ Kurama told Naruto, laughing slightly at the fact that Naruto still couldn't make the best grades without studying for hours, unlike the more physical side of things.

_'Haha very funny Kurama, but he does have a point. I am lying to them in a way by holding back. I'm surprised he noticed though. Have I not been acting as convincing? Or did he put it all together once I told them about my military service?'_ Naruto wondered

_'I don't know kit, but you're going to have to worry about that later. Now catch up to your class before speedy comes in here and starts yelling at you.'_ Kurama told him. Sighing, Naruto did as he said and pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind before catching up with his classmates.

* * *

"Hey! Pay attention audience! This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love, the U.A. sports festival, is about to begin! Everybody, are you ready?!" Naruto could hear present mic asking the audience from the commenters box, as the crowd went wild in return to his question. "It's time for the students to enter the first-year stage!" Taking that as their signal, class 1-A began to walk out of the hallway that they were waiting in and onto the arena.

"The U.A. sports festival! The huge battle where fledgling heroes sharpen their swords once a year! Anyway, these are the guys, right? The miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with their hearts of steel! Hero course class 1-A, right?" Present Mic said, as the class made their way to the center of the arena.

"They haven't been getting as much airtime, but his class is also full of talent! Hero course, 1-B!" He continued, as the class also made their way to the center of the arena.

"Next up, general studies classes C,D, and E!" These classes also came out and made their way to the center of the arena.

"Support course classes F, G, and H are here too! And business course classes I, J, and K!" he continued with the last of the classes as they made their way to the center of the arena. "All of U.A.'s first years are here now!"

"Time for the players pledge!" Midnight said, bringing her whip up as the stood on the stage in the arena. "Quiet everyone!" She said, bringing her whip down again. "Representing the students is Bakugou Katsuki from class 1-A!"

Ignoring the stares and surprised looks from his classmates, Bakugou made his way to wear Midnight was standing. Keeping his hands in his pockets, and in the calmest way he could, he said, "I pledge-to be number one."

"I knew he'd do that!" Naruto's classmates yelled, as both students from other courses and audience members booed Bakugou.

"Now, let's get started right away!" Midnight said, gaining everyone's attention back. "The first is what you'd call a qualifier! Every year, many drink their tears here! Now, here is the fateful first game! This year it's…" Midnight said, raising her whip as the screens randomly selected an activity for the first round of the sports festival. "this!" Midnight continued, as the screens displayed the word obstacle course.

"All 11 classes will participate in this race. The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium-about four kilometers! Our school's selling point is freedom! As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do! Now, take your places everyone!" Midnight told the students, as the audience started cheering in anticipation for the event.

Everyone stood behind the starting line as three green lights appeared in front of them. As each light disappeared, the students began to get more anxious. As soon as the last light went out, Midnight yelled, "Start!" and Naruto smirked as he began to run. He could already tell that the sports festival was going to be fun, even if he was going to have to hold back.

* * *

Shikamaru watched from the stands as Naruto and the rest of U.A. began the obstacle race. Because Endeavor was taking today off, and Shikamaru personally knew someone competing the sports festival, Endeavor had allowed Shikamaru to come with him to the sports festival. But the excuse they gave the agency was that Shikamaru was going to help Endeavor scout potential internes, which Shikamaru told himself he would spend some time doing.

Seeing as the contestants ran through a covering and currently could not be seen by anyone in the stands, Shikamaru leaned back in his chair and glanced at the fire hero beside him, who looked anxious and excited at the same time.

"From what I have heard about Todoroki, he isn't going to use the fire side of his quirk just because he is in a school festival, no matter how much he may want to win it." He told the flame hero.

"Oh trust me, Shoto just needs the proper convincing, and his classmates during the festival are going to give him just that." Endeavor told him, glancing at Shikamaru and smirking at him before returning his attention to the race.

* * *

**A/N: Tell me, what did you guys think of this chapter? How was the conversation between Naruto and his classmates that were with him during the USJ? What about the conversation between him and Sero? How do you think they will all act around him now? And who should Naruto intern with when the sports festival is over with? Remember to leave a review and thank you to everyone leaving the positive reviews, they mean a lot to me!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone how has followed and favorited this story. **

**I am not the greatest at writing battle scenes like the ones in the sports festival, but I tried my best and honestly don't think it's too bad, so I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

_Naruto sat at his dinner table with Shikamaru, Jiraiya, and Haru. This table felt like it had become the official place where the team would have all of their important discussions regarding the mission. Which was fine with Naruto, he just wished they would take place before or after they ate, and not while they were eating. His food was getting cold._

_"The best course of action for this seems to be to make it to the last part, which will be the one-on-one battles. Either put up a good fight and lose your first fight, or if your opponent has a weird quirk were you cant show off, than advance to the second round but be sure to lose. This should work to get you an internship while still keeping you under the radar. Or at least, how under the radar you can be for going to a school like U.A." Shikamaru said._

_"And make sure to not take this to seriously, Naruto. The way this is set up will probably remind you of the Chunin exams, but don't get caught up in the past. Plus, you're not fighting to move up in ranking and killing isn't allowed so don't lose control of yourself. It will be hard but remember to look forward." Jiraiya told him as he starred intensely at Naruto, making the young boy very uncomfortable._

_"But remember to have fun." Haru said, giving Naruto a small smile and getting rid of the intense atmosphere that was in the room. Naruto nodded to the man and returned to his now cold food. He took one bite of his dinner before sighing and making his way over to the microwave._

* * *

"Okay, here's the play-by-play! Are you ready to do the commentary Mummy Man?" Naruto heard Present Mic say over the speakers as he ran through the obstacle course. Naruto was honestly shocked that Present Mic had the guts to call him that to his face, let alone on live television.

"You're the one who forced me to come." Was his sensei's response.

"Let's get started right away, Mummy Man. What should we pay attention to in the early stages?" Present Mic asked him, as class1-A's homeroom teacher, he would know more about their abilities and who would probably do the best out of the class when compared to the English teacher sitting beside Aizawa.

"This part right now." Aizawa told everyone.

* * *

Back where Naruto was, he was facing a slight problem. Or rather, everyone currently competing was. That problem was that the hallway they were supposed to emerge from was too crowded, because everyone ran in at once. This resulted in everyone being shoved together preventing any movement. Although, Naruto was in no rush to get out. He knew that he needed to score towards the top to secure his spot in the class. While he didn't want to stand out too much, he wanted to stand out just enough to get into a decent hero agency and not get switched to a different class. If Naruto's guess was correct based on previous sports festivals, the top 40 were going to move onto the next round. Naruto was aiming to score in the top 20, preferably 15th place. And while he was getting pushed up against a wall and could easily use his chakra to run on said wall, he thought that would be to flashy and didn't want to answer the same question 45 people would ask later, so he decided to look for another way out.

Before anyone could make it out the exist, Todoroki used his ice powers to freeze everyone in place and make it out himself. Bakugou followed shortly after, using his explosions to fly through the air. Aoyama also used his quirk to fly out. Along with Yaoyorozu who made a contraption to get out, and Kirishima who used his quirk to break the ice. Ojiro was also able to use his tail to break the ice and get out.

Knowing that the ice wouldn't hold everyone forever, Naruto punched the ice surrounding his legs before running forward, careful to avoid everyone and to not to slip because Todoroki was leaving a thin trail of ice behind him. His movement mimicked those of an ice skaters, although not exactly the same because he wasn't wearing ice skates.

Making it out of the tunnel and looking behind him, Naruto saw that all of his classmates had made it out of the ice, along with a couple other people from different classes that he didn't know the names of.

It wasn't long before Naruto and the rest of his classmates made it to their first obstacle-which were the robots from the entrance exam.

"Obstacles have shown up suddenly! Starting with the first barrier! Robo inferno!" Naruto heard Present Mic saying over the speaker.

Naruto recognized these robots as the zero-pointer ones, which were the biggest of the robots at the entrance exams. However, instead of destroying them with a punch, as Naruto had done to the other robots, Naruto planned to out-run the robots. While destroying them would be easier, Naruto didn't want to have to use more energy than necessary in the first round. So, he decided that outrunning them would be the best option. However, before Naruto was able to do so, Todoroki freezed all of the robots, doing the work for Naruto. Seeing that the robots were froze, Naruto ran in-between the robots unlike his competitors who ran under them and in-between the legs. As the robots fell, some debris did come through Naruto's path, but it was nothing that he couldn't jump over. However, multiple people were crushed by the robots falling on top of them.

"That's Todoroki Shoto from class 1-A! He attacked and defended in one hit! How elegant! Amazing! He's the first one through! Its, you know, practically unfair!" Naruto heard Present Mics enthusiastic voice yell through his microphone. Not that his sensei should have one though, everyone could probably hear him just fine without one.

"His actions are logical and strategic." Aizawa's much calmer voice said.

"As expected of someone who got in through recommendations! He'd never fought them before, but those Robo Infernos couldn't get past his elite moves!" Present Mic continued. "Following behind him we have Uzumaki Naruto also from class 1-A! How did he even get through? I didn't see it!"

"The dust from the robots following covered him so we couldn't see it, but the most logical explanation is that he out-ran the falling robots." Came the monotone commentary from Aizawa.

Before he could continue with the conversation, Kirishima emerged from the rubble yelling, "Like I'd die!" With his quirk activated.

"Kirishima from class 1-A was underneath! That's crazy!" Present Mic continued, forcing his attention away from Naruto and onto the other contestants.

"That bastard, Todoroki! He timed it on purpose so I'd be right when the fell. If it hadn't been me, someone would've died!" Kirishima yelled. But before he could move out from the rubble, another person emerged.

"Those bastards from 1-A!" He exclaimed as his body was covered with a layer of steel from his quirk.

"Tetsutetsu from class B was also underneath! That's crazy!" Present Mic yelled. "Class 1-A's Bakugou is also advancing. Since the ground is covered, he's going overhead! Clever!" Naruto heard Present Mic continue as he ran towards the next obstacle. Which turned out to be a tightrope.

"Hey, hey, the first obstacle was easy? What about the second? If you don't wanna fall, then crawl! Its 'The Fall!'" Present Mic continued yelling, and Naruto was wondering how he could be so energetic so early in the morning.

Looking at the obstacle, Naruto knew it would be easy. He could either get it over with by jumping. Or, he could use chakra in his feet to walk over it. Knowing that he had to fall back a little in the race, Naruto decided to go with the second option and made sure to make it look like he was struggling to keep his balance. A girl with pink hair did pass Naruto, screaming about her babies as she laughed and passed the obstacle in just a couple of seconds. He thought it was weird until he remembered seeing her earlier with a bunch of gadgets attached to her uniform. If he had to guess, she was probably from the support course.

He was, however, a little bit surprised to find out that people here could also be born with natural pink hair like Sakura. Naruto quickly shook his head to prevent further thoughts about his former teammate from resurfacing. He could think about it later. Right now, he needed to focus on the task at hand.

"A lot of different people are working hard for their chance, huh, EraserHead?" Present Mic asked his fellow commenter.

"Why are they stopping?" Was Aizawa's only response as he sounded annoyed at his students.

"And now, the leader of the pack is easily getting through first!" Present Mic said. Looking around, Naruto also saw Asui, Iida, and Bakugou passing through the obstacle with relative ease.

"The lead pack is a step ahead, but below them everyone is clumped together! They haven't announced how many people will make it through, so you can't relax! Push forward!" Present Mic yelled. "And now, we've quickly arrived at the final barrier! The reality here is that it's actually a minefield! Its set up so that you can tell where the mines are if you look carefully! So you have to exploit your eyes and legs! By the way, these landmines are for games, so they're not that powerful. But they're loud and flashy enough to make you wet your pants!" Present Mic continued, adding a little disclaimer at the end.

_'Oh, someone finally got there?'_ Naruto heard a certain someone asking in his head.

_'It was relatively quick.' _Naruto responded, coming to his classmates defense.

_'Yeah but we both know that if you were going full out you would've been there just a couple of seconds after that hot hero yelled start.'_

_'Yes but I had very different training then them, Kurama.'_

_'That just goes to show that they need to up the training over here than.'_ Before Naruto could say something else, the conversation was interrupted by Present Mic yelling over the speaker.

"And now we have someone new in the lead! Rejoice, mass media! It's the kind of development you guys love! Bakugou is now in first place. But hey, the rest of the pack is also speeding up. Even as they push and pull each other, can the two at the top remain in the lead?" He said.

_'Did he just roast the media?'_ Naruto thought to himself.

Finally making it to the last obstacle, Naruto decided to put a little more speed into his step as he looked and used his nose to detect and avoid the mines. He was about halfway through when the ground started to shake and a bright light began to blind his eyes.

"What was that explosion in the back? What's with that force?! Was it an accident, or did he do it on purpose? Class A's Midoriya is in hot pursuit with that blast!" Present mic continued yelling. Naruto was seriously starting to wonder how the man's voice hadn't gone out yet, voice-based quirk or not.

Once his vision did clear, he saw Izuku riding on an old piece from the robot's and heading straight towards Bakugou and Todoroki. Actually, Naruto took that statement back, he flew over them.

"Apparently, he's taken the lead! The two formerly in the lead have stopped trying to slow each other down and are chasing Midoriya! Now that they have a common enemy, they've stopped fighting! The fights not over yet, though!" Present Mic exclaimed. And it wasn't long before Naruto heard another explosion and Present Mic continued his screaming. "Would you believe it? He cleared the minefield in an instant! EraserHead, your class is amazing! What're you teaching them?"

"I didn't do anything. They got each other fired up on their own." Aizawa's uncaring voice could he heard. However, Naruto was able to sense just a bit of pride in the man's voice, if his time with Kakashi-sensei taught him anything. Naruto quickly scolded himself again for thinking about his former team yet again and refocused on what he was doing.

"Right now, the first person back into the stadium is that man…Midoriya Izuku made a huge splash!" Present Mic's enthusiastic voice could be heard, followed by the crowd's loud cheering. "And now, they're finishing one after the other! We'll make a list of the results later, but for now, good work!" Present Mic continued.

As Naruto emerged from the doorway that led to the stadium, he noticed that the top three all had very odd looks to their faces. Izuku looked amazed at the fact that he won, Bakugou looked angry, and Todoroki was staring at Izuku with awe, but also a little bit of resentment.

_'Why are they taking this so seriously? It's just a festival.'_ Kurama complained to Naruto.

_'That may be true, but their entire future and hopes of being scouted are riding on this festival. It's kind of like the chunin exams, but there's no death penalty and they don't get a new rank.' _Naruto told him.

"The first game of the first-year stage is finally over. Now, take a look at the results!" Midnight said, before all of the results appeared on the screen. Looking over, Naruto saw that he came in 18th place.

_'A little lower than I wanted, but still not the end of the world. I'll just have to up my game a little bit in the next round. I'll also have to remember that people get more motivated when the know something is about to end.' _Naruto thought to himself. As he saw his competitors speeding it up as they ran towards the finish line.

"The top 42 made it through to the next round! It's unfortunate, but don't worry even if you didn't make it! We've prepared other chances for you to shine. The real competition begins next! The press will be all over it! Give it your all!" Midnight said, before raising her whip as the screen behind her began to randomly select the next game. "Now then, here is the second game. What could it be? A calvary battle! Let me explain. The participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular calvary battle. But the one thing that's different is…based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned a point value. And the points assigned go up by five starting from the bottom. So 42nd gets five points and 41st gets ten points! And the point value assigned to first place is…ten million! That's right, its survival of the fittest with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!" Midnight continued.

_'Oh…this is to funny!'_ Naruto thought to himself, as Kurama hysterically laughed in his head.

"Now than, I will explain the rules of the Calvary battle. The time limit is 15 minutes. Each team is worth the total of its members' points, and the riders will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads. Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out and try to keep as many points as they can. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up. So the more you steal, the harder it is to manage them! And the most important thing is that even if your headband gets stolen, or your team falls, you're not out!" Midnight told everyone, bringing her whip to point at the crowd of contesters.

"During the game, it'll be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks. But this is still a calvary battle. You'll get a red card for attacks that are trying to make people fall on purpose! You'll be removed immediately! Now, you have 15 minutes to build your teams. Start!"

Before Naruto was given the chance to look around and see which people were willing to team up with him, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he was met with a blank faced Shoji, who used another one of his extendable limbs to motion to Naruto to follow him, leading him to Asui. "Naruto could you tell me a little about your quirk? If I'm right, I want you to be on our team." She told Naruto.

"Sure, what do you want to know?" Naruto asked them.

"Well, we were wondering if you would be able to manipulate other peoples energy."

"Ah sorry Asui, that's a no-go. I can manipulate energy to enhance my abilities and occasionally attack others, but I can't force their own natural energy to do anything." Naruto told her, throwing her an apologetic smile.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Uzumaki, but you did say that you have a wind affinitive energy correct?" Shoji asked Naruto, his eyebrows drawn together as if he was thinking.

"Yeah, wind energy is the easiest one for me to control, why?" Naruto asked him.

"Well I was thinking that you and Asui could hide on my back as I cover both of you. Then, if you manipulated the wind around people, you could force them into taking a certain direction. Asui could than use her tongue to get the headbands off of people. Together, our team will make up 420 points. It's not the highest score, but definitely not the lowest. We will have to be on both offense and defense at the same time if we wish to make it to the next round. I believe that this is our best strategy in order to move forward." Shoji told the two as he looked directly at them.

"That's actually not a terrible idea." Naruto muttered to himself. "Sounds like a good plan Shoji, I'm in." Naruto told him.

"So am I." Asui said.

* * *

Shikamaru observed his roommate as he talked quietly with the look-alike Kakashi-sensei and a frog like girl that he had never seen before. So far, Naruto appeared to be doing well. It did look like his boyfriend was actually trying, despite the fact that Shikamaru knew he wasn't, and he could tell that their team would work well together if they chose the right strategy. If they played their cards right both offense and defense moves could be made.

Glancing at the number two hero beside him, Shikamaru studied the expression on Endeavor's face. He didn't appear to be that angry, but he did seem disappointed. Shikamaru honestly wondered why the hero would be disappointed, from what he had heard his youngest son vowed that he wouldn't use his father's side of his quirk (which Shikamaru thought was stupid) and an obstacle course obviously wasn't going to change that.

* * *

"Now than it's about time to get started!" Midnight yelled out to the crowd as soon as the timer went off, letting everyone know that the 15 minutes were up.

"After 15 minutes to form teams and talk strategy, twelve calvary teams are lined up on the field!" Present Mic announced over the speakers.

"There are some interesting teams out there." Aizawa said, his voice groggy as it sounded like he had just crawled out of his sleeping bag in order to let the next teacher take over the class.

"Now, raise those battle cries! It's time for U.A.'s bloody battle! Light the signal fire! Now let's go! Counting down to the brutal battle royal!" Present Mic yelled, getting the crowd excited for the upcoming matches.

"Three…two…one!" He continued.

"Start!" Midnight yelled as soon as he finished counting down, pointing her whip at the teams.

Immediately, everyone charged into battle, all attacking Izuku's team. To avoid getting lost in the crowd, Naruto's team agreed to wait until Izuku's team got away from the crowd before making their move on him. Seeing as Izuku's team was able to get away from the crowd, Shoji started running towards them were it looked like they were landing. Naruto could have taken them down in the air, but there was the possibility that they would fall over and his team would lose as a result of that. Naruto had also told his classmates that he rarely used his 'quirk' for attacking people and that his control wasn't the best, so he needed to be close to get the best possible outcome from the situation. It would have been hard for Asui to use her tongue in the air anyway, as they were still moving forward. She might not have been able to reach them.

"Now than even though its barely been two minutes since we started, its already turned into a free-for-all! Fights over the headbands are breaking out all over! Ignoring the ten million points and going for second to fourth places isn't that bad either!" Present Mic announced.

From what Naruto could see out of Shoji's hiding place, he saw Izuku turn around, probably from hearing Shoji running towards them, and stare at them. It than came to Naruto's attention that Izuku couldn't see him or Asui from their hiding place, making it seem like Shoji was a one-man team. Using this to his advantage, Naruto quickly preformed the proper hand signals before saying, "Wind style: Air bullet!" as he gently blew air from out of his mouth, being sure to not add too much chakra in the process. Just enough to force the team to the side a little. Then, backing up and making room for Asui, she stuck her tongue out from the hiding place to try and grab the headband. But the teamed regained their balance just a second before Asui's tongue made it there, preventing the team from grabbing the headband.

"Is that even allowed?!" Izuku asked, shocked that Shoji was allowed to cover his teammates like that and about the fact that they only had one 'horse'.

"It is!" Midnight told Izuku.

"Gomen, if I had put a little more force in than we would have gotten the points." Naruto told his teammates.

"It's not entirely your fault Naruto, I am also to blame because I wasn't fast enough. We'll just have to work harder to get the next point. Asui told Naruto. Before they were able to make their next attack, Izuku's team was taking off in the air again, most of the teams following them.

"To be honest, this was to be expected from Izuku. I say we go after some of the smaller teams while everyone is focused on them. They may not be a lot of points, but we can raise through the ranks quickly once we gather enough." Naruto told his teammates. They both seemed to agree with him so Shoji changed course in order to attack some of the other teams.

"As expected, everyone's after the first-place team, and class A is in hot pursuit! Everyone's got skills!" Naruto heard Present Mic announcing. "Now, let's take a look at each team's points!" He continued. "It's been seven minutes! Here are the current rankings up on the screen! Huh? Wait a minute. Other than Midoriya, class A isn't doing so well…"

"Shoji, where do we stand?" Naruto asked once he heard what Present Mic said.

"As of right now, we are in 10th place." He told him.

"Okay so not bad, but not good either. We definitely need to get back up there." Naruto said.

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure where they stood on the board now, but the next couple of points were easy to grab. Their original strategy seemed to be working. Naruto would use a mild wind jutsu to force a team in a certain direction, and Asui would use her tongue to grab the headband. She would than hand it to Naruto, who would tie it around his neck. He didn't know how many points they now had, but he was confident that they weren't going to get cut this round.

"Less than half the time left! We're pushing into the second half of the Calvary battle. With the sudden rise of class B, who will wear the ten million points in the end?!" Naruto heard Present Mic say. He smirked to himself as his team continued forward.

Naruto did end up falling into a rhythm with his classmates and loosing tack of time. He was vaguely aware that at some point Izuku did lose his ten million points, but he wasn't sure to who or if he got them back. He also wasn't sure where his team stood on the scoreboard, but he did know that they were racking up points from some of the teams with smaller points. So, Naruto was shocked just a little bit when heard the timer go off followed by Present Mic's enthusiastic voice (that he had managed to tune out during the battle by some miracle) saying, "Times up everyone! Let's look at the top four teams right away! In first place, we have team Todoroki!"

Looking over at the team as Naruto climbed off of Shoji, he saw a disappointed Yaoyorozu, an idiot Kaminari, a guilty looking Iida, and a Todoroki that looked like he was happy he got first, but not pleased with his performance.

"In second place, team Bakugou!" Naruto looked at an angry Bakugou (and he was starting to think that the calm Bakugou in the classroom the other day, as well as the one on stage were a genjutsu, because the boy was only ever mad), a relieved looking Sero and Ashido, and a mildly annoyed Kirishima.

"In third place, Tetsute-huh? What, it's team Shinso?! When did you come from behind?!" Once Naruto spotted the team, he discovered that team Shinso was led by the purple haired boy from the crowd that blocked the classroom door a few days ago. He also saw Shinso's teammates, who were Aoyama, Ojiro, and a boy he didn't recognize all looking very confused. It was if they didn't know what happened while Shinso looked very smug.

"In fourth place, team Midoriya! These four teams will advance to the final round! Now we will take an hour-long break for lunch before coming back! See ya! Eraserhead, let's go grab lunch." Present Mic continued.

"I'm going to sleep" Was the only reply the man got before a thump was heard, and Naruto assumed that his sensei had fallen to the floor like he usually does in class, already asleep.

"Aw man, and we were so close to! Fifth place!" Naruto said to his teammates, throwing his hands up into the air in despair.

"It's alright Naruto, at least we gave it out best shot." Shoji told him.

"Yeah, all that matters is that we should our abilities and hopefully we can get an internship so the work we did to get even this far won't go to waste." Asui told him.

Naruto stood in place, frozen, just starring at his two classmates as they walked away to go get lunch. Honestly, the way they were okay with loosing and reassuring him almost made him feel guilty for holding back so much. Maybe Sero was right and this wasn't something that was completely fair to his classmates.

Shaking his head as to get rid of the thoughts, Naruto reminded himself of his mission here. His classmates would be fine and the worst thing they would suffer from is a bruised ego. And with that settled, Naruto made his way to the lunchroom to, hopefully, get some ramen. Maybe today Lunch Rush would reach his limit with Naruto's complaining and finally make some.

On his way to lunch, Naruto could sense both Midoriya and Todoroki standing in a hallway but not saying anything. He debated standing outside the hallway to figure out what was going on with his classmates but decided against it as Todoroki seemed to be watching everyone that passed by. He figured he could get a good distance away and then hide himself were he could still see them. He was genuinely curious as to what conversation was so important that they would both take time out of their lunch and wait until everyone was gone before talking.

As Naruto was walking past the hallway, Todoroki reached a hand out to grab Naruto's arm and pull him into the hallway. Which, Naruto let him do despite his instincts telling him otherwise. One look at the glance Todoroki shot him and Naruto knew that he was going to be stuck there for some time. Grabbing his phone, Naruto shot a quick text to Todoroki to tell him that he would not be able to meet up with him for lunch. He then pocketed the device, leaned against the wall by Izuku, and turned his full attention to Todoroki, giving him a look that said _'well, get on with it.'_

* * *

The man standing next to Shikamaru was fuming (pun intended) as he walked out of the stands, anger written in his body language but not portrayed on his face as to not alert the people or the media of anything. Yet again, Shikamaru found himself confused by his bosses behavior. Even if the flames did flicker to life for a split second on Todoroki, it was most likely due to aggression and frustration with himself over the points than anything else. If Endeavor wanted his son to use his flames so badly, he needed to convince his son to use them. Telling him that he would be stronger if he used the flames and watching him intently during a sports festival obviously wasn't doing the trick.

Standing up and stretching, Shikamaru debated talking about Todoroki with his boss, but was unable to as he saw the man already walking away without a word. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Shikamaru was going to ask Naruto where they should met up but saw that he already had a message from his boyfriend telling him that he would be unable to meet him to lunch. Frowning at the message, Shikamaru put his phone away and decided to put his ANBU skills to use. He blended in with the shadows and set off to find Naruto, pondering on what was keeping his boyfriend held up.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter completed and early at that! This one had some Shikamaru POV in it! Are you interested in seeing the story told from various POV's or should I keep it limited to Naruto's? Be sure to let me know what you all think of this chapter and continue to tell me who Naruto should do his internship with!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone how has followed and favorited this story. **

* * *

"So I'm assuming you wanted to talk to Izuku and I about something?" Naruto asked as he stood beside Izuku. Todoroki, who had called for the meeting, was standing across from the pair and staring blankly at them.

"If we don't hurry, the cafeteria will probably be really crowded…" Izuku said, looking uncomfortable from the gaze that Todoroki had on the pair.

"I was overpowered. So much so that I broke my pledge." Todoroki began, holding his stare with the two boys. Izuku looked like he understood what Todoroki was talking about while Naruto tried to figure out where the conversation was going. He did not know about the pledge that Todoroki was talking about. "Iida, Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, Uraraka, none of them felt it. But in that last instant, I was the only one who was overpowered. Only me, who had experienced All Might's full power up close." He continued.

"What…does…that mean?" Izuku asked. From the look on his face, Naruto knew that he also understood what Todoroki was trying to say to him.

"it means I felt something similar coming from you. Midoriya are you All Might's secret love child or something?" Todoroki asked, a completely serious expression on his face. Upon hearing this, both Naruto and his tenant couldn't help themselves as they both started laughing so loudly in his head Naruto had half a mind to worry that Izuku and Todoroki hear it. He did, however, fail to contain some of his laughter as a snort escaped out of his lips. Both boys glanced at Naruto, as if wondering what he found so funny and remembering that Naruto was still there, before continuing their conversation.

"Well? Are you?" Todoroki pressed, still serious but also confused as to why Izuku seemed flustered and embarrassed while Naruto found the situation amusing for reasons unknown to Todoroki.

"Th-That's not it! I mean, even if I was, I would say I wasn't so I don't think you'd believe me. But anyway, that's not how it is. Actually let me ask _you_ something, why would you think that about me?" Izuku said as he frantically explained the situation while exaggerating his hand movements.

"Since you said. 'that's not how it is," that means there's a connection between you two that you can't talk about, right? And Naruto, do you even want to be here? I can tell that you hold back but what is the point? You have yet to reveal your true strength, even if it means loosing. Why?" Todoroki said, ignoring Izuku's question and finally answering Naruto's unasked one which was _"Why am I here?"_

"Endeavor is my old man. I'm sure you know that he's been stuck as the number two hero forever. If you have something from the number one hero, then I have even more reason to beat you. And if you don't show your full strength, than I cannot know for sure that I am stronger than you. My old man has a strong desire to rise in the world. As a hero, he won a name for himself with crushing force. Because of that, the living legend, All Might, is a great eyesore to him. Since he couldn't surpass All Might, he moved onto his next plan." Todoroki continued.

Naruto, unfortunately, had an idea of where the story was going. Izuku seemed to have reached the same conclusion but was trying to deny the possibility as he asked him, "What are you talking about Todoroki? What are you trying to tell us?"

"You've heard of quirk marriages, right? That thing that became a problem for the second and third generation after superpowers appeared. Choosing a spouse based only on strengthening your own quirk and passing it onto your children forcing people into marriage. The old-fashioned way of thinking brought by a lack of ethics. He is a man with both accomplishments and money. He won over my mother's relatives and got a hold of my mother's quirk. He is trying to fulfill his own desires by raising me to be a hero to surpass All Might. It's so annoying! I won't become the tool of scum like that. In my memories, my mother is always crying. 'Your left side is unsightly.' my mother said as she poured boiling water on me." Todoroki paused here to bring a hand to the red scar coving the left side of his face, covering his scar.

Naruto glanced over at Izuku to see the horrified look on his face, while Naruto looked grimly at the ground. It was true that this world was less bloody than his own, but no one should be treated like that. Marriages based off of kekkei genkaioften happened in the hidden villages with different clans. Sometimes the marriage would be okay while other times the children would come out even worse than Todoroki had. Arranged marriages seemed to be a problem both societies faced.

"Basically, I picked a fight with you to show him what I can do, without using my damn old man's quirk. No… I'll reject him completely by winning first place without using it. And Naruto…I can't show my old man that I'm the strongest without using his quirk if you're not trying your hardest. While you're not competing in the next round, the next time we fight I will face you at full strength without using my father's quirk." Todoroki continued, pushing himself off of the wall and turning to walk away, before continuing to talk as he walked away.

"I don't care if you can't tell me about your connection to All Might Midoriya, I will beat both of you using just my right side." He said. Naruto and Izuku just stood in shock as they watched Todoroki walk away until they could no longer see his figure. Both boys continue to stare at the floor in silence, processing everything they had just learned about their classmate.

"Don't give it to him." Naruto said, effectively snapping the pair out of their thoughts while also surprising Izuku with his statement.

"W-What?" He asked him.

"Todoroki. Don't give the sports festival to him." Naruto explained, turning to face the boy next to him. "If I'm being honest, I think it's foolish of him to think that he can win this entire festival only using half of his strength. Someday, even if it isn't during our high school career, he will face off against someone that is stronger than him. Eventually, he will need to use his other side. It's better for him to learn how to use it now than to need it later and not know how to control it, which brings the risk of hurting others severely. We learned at the USJ with Thirteen that our quirks can destroy just as much as it can help. The point of going to U.A. is not only to become a hero but make sure our quirks aren't used for harm. Todoroki can't accomplish that only using one quirk. Whether he thinks his power is his fathers or not he needs to use it. Don't pity him and throw him a win, he doesn't want it and he won't learn that lesson through words. We need to show him that he needs his left side, not tell him. Promise me that if you face him, you'll give that fight your all." He told Izuku.

Izuku starred at Naruto for a second, processing all of the information, before looking up at Naruto and saying, "Of course! I have people supporting me, I can't let them down!"

"Oh, there you are Naruto." Both boys turned to the entrance of the hallway to see Shikamaru standing there with his hands in his pockets. It seemed that the deer-like boy either thought that the pair had enough time to themselves already or just got hungry enough to finally come down from his hiding spot and make an appearance. "C'mon lets go get lunch before they run out of food. Even if you aren't fighting anymore you still need to eat."

Naruto nodded to Shikamaru before jogging over to his boyfriend. He looked over his shoulder and waved at Izuku and gave him a smile before throwing his arm over Shikamaru and steered them in the direction of the cafeteria. He was starving after all.

* * *

"Now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game!" Present Mic yelled over the speaker system. The lunch break seemed to have given him more energy, if that was even possible. "But before that, there's good news for all of you who didn't make it to the finals! This is just a sports festival! So we've prepared recreational games that everyone can participate in too! We've even brought in real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!" He continued, before spotting the females in class 1-A also dressed as cheerleaders.

"What's the matter, Class A? What kind of fan service is this?" He asked.

"Mineta! Kaminari! You tricked us, didn't you?!" Naruto heard Yaoyorozu yelling as the two boys in question gave each other a thumbs up.

"Why am I always caught up in Mineta's schemes?" Yaoyorozu asked, before dropping to the ground while Ochako tried to comfort her and cheer her up.

"Those guys are so dumb!" Jirou said as she punched the air.

"Well, there's still time left, so I say we do it!" Hagakure exclaimed.

"Toru, you like this don't you?" Asui asked the invisible girl.

"All right everyone! Let's have fun competing in the recreational games! When that's over, the 16 from the four teams that made it to the final round will duke it out torment style, one-on-one!" Present Mic told everyone.

"Now let's draw lots for the brackets. Once the bracket is determined, we'll have the recreational games and then start! The 16 finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreation. I'm sure some of you will want to rest or save your strength." Midnight told the students. "Now the first-place team-" She started as she was walking over to the team, before Oijro interrupted her.

"Um, excuse me!" He said, raising his hand. "I'm withdrawing." Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked. After all why would a finalist want to drop out?

"Ojiro why?" Izuku asked.

"This is a rare chance for pros to see you!" Iida told him.

"I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until almost the end. I think it was that guy's quirk." He said, nodding his head over to Shinso. "I know that this is a great chance and that its foolish to waste it. But everyone here competed by giving it their all! I can't be up there with everyone without knowing what really happened." Ojiro explained to his classmates.

"But Ojiro, I didn't really do anything either." Mina told him, not grasping why he was forfeiting.

"That's not it, I'm talking about my pride here. I can't! Also, why are you guys wearing cheerleader outfits?" He said, his question at the end effectively ruining the mood. And upsetting his female classmates.

"I'm Nirengeki Shoda from Class B" Naruto heard someone say. Turning around, he saw it was another person from Shinso's team and he had also approached Midnight. "I also want to withdraw for the same reason. Regardless of ability, don't you think it goes against the sports festival for those who didn't do anything to move to the final around?" He said.

"This is an unusual turn of events." Present Mic said, not screaming for the first time that day, which felt like a blessing to Naruto's ears.

"We'll have to see what the chief umpire Midnight has to say about this." Naruto heard his teacher say.

"Youthful talk like that is something I like!" Midnight said as she moved her whip around. "Shoda! Ojiro! I accept your withdraws! In that case, we'll have to move up two people from the fifth-place cavalry battle team." Midnight continued.

"While I would love to continue to the next battle, I would feel bad. I feel like I didn't fight as hard as some of the others did here today. I will not be moving forward." Asui told everyone.

"I'm afraid that I have the same opinion as my teammate. Please, give my spot to someone from the team in sixth place." Shoji said.

_'Alright, you win this time Sero. It seems like you and the rest of our class are finally starting to rub off on me. After all, it wouldn't be very 'youthful' or 'plus ultra' of me to not continue on despite my mission. I won't go full out, but I can definitely try harder. But damn if this backfires I'll face a lot of shit for it. It only seems fair to continue though, especially when one of our classmates has an appointment with my fists. And after that, I need to make sure that a certain hero notices me so I can make a house call.' _Naruto thought to himself.

"Admirable of you two, I'm proud to call you my teammates. But I would like to continue fighting, so I'll move onto the final around." Naruto told everyone.

After a bit of discussion among the sixth-place team, it was decided that Tetsutetsu would be moving up and taking the sixteenth spot.

* * *

"This is the bracket based on the results of drawing!" Midnight said, before everyone's name started to fill the slots on the screen's around the stadium.

Looking up at the board, Naruto saw that his opponent was the class idiot, Kaminari. Naruto could have planned ahead for the fight, but it was Kaminari and he was a more in-the-moment planner anyway. Plus, it would be a good way to brush up on his skills. He hadn't sparred in a long time, so he was eager to fight.

If Naruto opted out of the recreational games to say that he was planning for his fight only to spend some quality time with Shikamaru, as it seemed that there was always someone in their apartment, neither of the boys would never tell his anyone.

* * *

"All right everyone! The finals that you've all been waiting for are finally starting! Match number one: Shinso Hitoshi versus Midoriya Izuku!" Present Mic said. "Even though he's done well, what's with that face?" He asked, upon seeing Izuku's face when it appeared on the screen. It seemed that Izuku was nervous for his fight, if his face was anything to go by.

"The rules are simple, force your opponent out of bounds or immobilize them! You can also win by making your opponent say, 'I give up!' Bring on the injuries, because we've got our own Recovery Girl waiting on standby! Put your morals and ethics aside for a moment! But of course, anything life-threatening is crap! It's not allowed! Heroes should only use their fists to catch villains!" Present Mic yelled into the microphone, as Izuku and Shinso made their way onto the battleground. Cementoss could also be seen making a chair on the side.

"I'll stop things if they go to far." He said.

"Ready? Start!" Present Mic told the two contestants.

From where Naruto was sitting, he could not hear what Shinso was saying, unless he used chakra, and he did not think that this situation called for that. And it seemed like Izuku was trying to not answer him. Maybe getting a response from someone was how he was able to control them? Naruto wasn't sure but it did seem like the most likely theory. His theory was proven right when Izuku yelled something to his competitor and started walking over before stopping and starring at Shinso.

_'Well, he didn't hold out very long.' _Kurama said to him.

_'Yeah, Shinso must have said something to really upset him. Izuku is usually pretty quiet when he first meets people.'_ Naruto told his foxy friend.

"Ah! And I went through all of that trouble with warning him too!" Ojiro exclaimed as he stood up and brought his hands to his hair. It seemed like he had a lot of faith in his classmate and really wanted him to win.

"Hey, hey what's the matter? It's the important first match! Liven things up! Midoriya, the match just started and he's completely frozen?! He's got a blank look on his face and isn't moving a muscle! Is this Shinso's quirk?! He didn't stand out _at all,_ but could he actually be someone amazing? Will the bottom really overthrow the top?" Present Mic announced to everyone.

"That's why I said the entrance exam wasn't rational. Here's some basic data on the two of them. Since it's individual matches from here on out, I had someone compile it for me. Shinso failed the practical exam for the hero course. Since he also applied for general studies, he probably knew that would happen. His quirk is very powerful, but the practical exam consisted of fighting faux villains. That gave an advantage to those with physical attack quirks. Shinso wouldn't have been able to rack up any points with his quirk." Naruto heard his homeroom teacher tell everyone.

_'I can't say that he has the wrong thinking there.'_ Naruto thought to himself._ 'Even if someone without a strength quirk still worked up to build up muscle, they wouldn't be able to destroy the villains in the entrance exam. But then again, there really can't be a perfect exam that would allow all quirks to be applied equally for something like a hero school. This is just another example that no world can be completely fair to its inhabitants.'_

"What's this?! Midoriya is being so obedient!" Naruto heard Present Mic say, which snapped him out of his thoughts. He focused his attention back on his classmate and watched as Izuku continued to walk towards the end of the battleground.

_'What an uneventful first fight. Looks like the responsibility for Todoroki is just on me now. Although, I am kinda sad Izuku will be losing this quickly. He'll probably end up beating himself up for weeks over this.' _Naruto thought to himself. Although, it seemed that he was wrong as a sudden wind picked up, creating a giant cloud of dust.

Once the cloud of dust disappeared, Naruto could see his classmate standing right at the line that marked the bounds for the fights. He was panting heavily and if Naruto focused, he could see that his classmate had broken two of his fingers in order to snap himself out of his trance.

"Midoriya stopped!" Present Mic announced, and an attack was lead on Naruto's ears as everyone started screaming and yelling, forcing the teenage ANBU to bring his hands to his ears and squeeze his eyes shut in a desperate attempt to block out all of the noise.

As the crowd began to quiet down, Naruto opened his eyes to see a pissed off Shinso yelling at Izuku while Izuku starred at him and covered his mouth to prevent himself from saying anything. He then removed his hand from his face and ran at Shinso, who appeared to be trying to get Izuku to talk. Izuku refused to answer as he started to push Shinso out of bounds.

Naruto had to respect Shinso, as it seemed that he wasn't going down without a fight. He punched Izuku in the nose, but this did nothing as his classmate continued to push his opponent. Shinso did, at one point, manage to turn the tables and almost push Izuku out, but Izuku grabbed onto him and flipped Shinso over his body, forcing him out of bonds.

"Shinso is out of bounds! Midoriya advances to round two!" Midnight said, as she raised her hand to signal the end of the battle.

Naruto's ears faced yet another assault on them. The ANBU agent was yet again forced to cover his ears with his hands and squeeze his eyes shut as he prayed that the yelling would soon end. He made a mental note to never attend an event like this again. He also vaguely registered that Present Mic was yet again yelling into the speakers but was unable to focus on the man's voice in order to make out what he was saying.

Once the shouting and clapping got down to a bearable level for Naruto, he saw Shinso walking off of the stage while Izuku continued to stand in the middle before he also made his way off of the stage.

* * *

When Shikamaru returned from the bathroom, it didn't take him long to figure out that his boos went to track down his son just before his fight. And after hearing the conversation between Todoroki and his classmates earlier that day, Shikamaru did feel a new sense of duty to help protect the boy. Maybe Naruto was finally rubbing off on him.

Because of his lack of connection to the youngest Todoroki, Shikamaru had no choice but to try to talk to his boss to help ease the situation between the two family members. And because he was in ANBU, it didn't take him to long to find the two males and just catch the end of their conversation as Todoroki walked away from his father.

Leaning against the wall, Shikamaru crossed his hands over his chest before calling out to the father that was glaring at his son's retreating figure. "You know, you can tell him that he has a duty to surpass All Might all you want but that won't change the fact that he doesn't want to. You have the wrong approach to the whole situation." He told the man.

Endeavor was visibly shocked by the statement. The first reason being he was startled by Shikamaru's presence and the second being that he never would have thought his lazy employee would say something like this to him. Directing his glare to the other man, he asked, "What are you doing here? And why are you concerned with my family affairs? They are none of your concern."

"Actually different kinds of stress will affect your thinking and performance in battle. Therefore, your family affairs are my concern, and it is my job to help you fix them." Shikamaru told the man in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Okay than, and, do tell what do you think I should do to fix the situation?" Endeavor sarcastically asked his employee as he raised an eyebrow at the teenager, deciding to go along with his game for the time-being.

"Well, and you will probably get mad at me for saying this, but the first thing you need to do is realize that Shoto is his own human. He has his own dreams, ambitions, hopes, and emotions. So, achieving your dream through him is unrealistic if he doesn't have the same dream as you. And I can tell you that from what I have seen today, Shoto has no intention of surpassing All Might. Shoto also has his own feelings, which is another thing you need to realize. You've been putting pressure on him to surpass All Might since he was a kid, right? Because of this, he probably sees you as the villain in. his life. In other words, no matter what you do he will not listen to you. There will come a day when he needs help taming his fire, and he will have to come to you on his own for that help. Don't force him to come to you. Additionally, you need to give the kid some freedom. My father have the same sense of duty towards our family, so it was easy for us to agree on a lot of things. But as a thing, he did allow me to have a lot of freedom when it came to friends and we compromised a lot when it came to designing my training schedule. You two will probably never have a great relationship but treating him as his own human is a good place to start. You will have to make up for what you've done somewhere along the line though, in more ways than just treating him differently. Also, once you've realized that what you have done is wrong, he would probably appreciate a verbal apology." Shikamaru told the man, before turning around and returning back to their seats. Leaving behind a shocked but mad number two hero.

* * *

A few minutes later, the next match started. This time, it was between Todoroki and Sero. It was painfully obvious who would win, as Sero did not have the skill set to go up against someone like Todoroki and win yet. So, this match passed very quickly. However, Naruto did have to give his classmate some credit as he did start off strong, wrapping Todoroki in his tape as soon as the match started and swinging him to throw him out of bounds. Unfortunately, all it took was one moment for Todoroki's left foot to touch the ground before he could immobilize his classmate. It did seem that his classmate did not know how to holdback, as his ice stretched over the viewing area where Naruto and his class were sitting. Naruto wouldn't be shocked if he learned later that the ice attack also went over the stadium itself.

* * *

Once the ice covering the stadium was taken care of, Naruto started to make his way over to the battlegrounds, as his fight with Kaminari would be taking place next.

"Sorry for the long wait! The stage is finally dry from the ice so it's onto the next battle! First up, we have a completely average dude that has yet to stand out, its Naruto Uzumaki from the hero course class A!" Present Mic yelled into the speaker as Naruto made his way to the stage.

"Versus," The man continued, "Sparking Killing Boy! Also from the hero course class A, it's Kaminari Denki! Now, we'll have a super flashy battle this time too! All right! Start!"

"Sorry about this Naruto," Kaminari said to him once the battle had officially started. "I hate to be the one to take you out in the first round, but I'll buy you some ramen after this. After all, I will win this match in just a second!" He said with a smirk on his face, as cocky as ever, as he raised his fists and said, "Indiscriminate Shock: 1.3 Million Volts!" As electricity came out from around his body and he brought his hands down.

As soon as Naruto saw the electricity coming from his classmates body, Naruto made the proper hand signals before saying "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" and making a barrier to prevent himself from getting shocked just before the lightning bolts could hit him. He then stood there and waited for the attack to die down, which didn't take long as his classmate quickly began to short circuit, before making some more hand gestures and saying, "Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" And making his way under the ground and towards his classmate. Reaching out with his hand, he pulled his classmate under the ground so that only his head was visible and sat down next to him.

"Well that was fairly quick!" Present Mic said.

"Uzumaki advances to the second round!" Midnight said, as she pointed her whip at Naruto.

The crowd went wild and Naruto had to refrain from covering his ears this time as his classmate was taken out on a stretcher. He then made it back to where his class was seated just before the fourth match started, which happened to be between Iida and Hatsume, the pink haired girl that was screaming about her babies in the obstacle course.

The match between the two was interesting…in its own special way. Naruto kind of felt bad for his classmate, as it seemed like he was just being used so Hatsume could boast about her creations. And she did step out of bounds once she was done promoting her items. It did seem like Iida walked out of that match with his pride hurt, but that was part of life so Naruto didn't worry about comforting his classmate at the moment, there would always be fights when others don't play fairly and when you don't win by the means you want to either.

The next match was Aoyama against Ashido, which ended when Aoyama finally got a stomachache and Ashido melted his belt, ending the fight officially with an undercut to Aoyama's jaw.

The match after that was Tokoyami against Yaoyorozu, which was an interesting matchup. They had completely different fighting styles, but Naruto could see that his female classmate was overthinking everything, which allowed Tokoyami to quickly push her out of bounds to win the fight.

The seventh match was one that Naruto could already see never-ending. It was Kirishima against Tetsutetsu. Both boys had very similar quirks, hardening and steel. Both boys also had very similar fighting styles, which were close-range using mainly their fists to fight. Both boys continued to give the fight their all yelling about how the blows the other gave them didn't hurt (they were so loud that Naruto could hear them from where he was sitting). The fight ended up being a draw after they both collapsed at the same time. Once both boys recovered, the match would continue, but for the moment they would continue with the matches.

The eighth match was the class hothead, Bakugou, against Uraraka. Despite his personality, Naruto knew that Bakugou was actually very smart and good with battle tactics. But with the confidence that Ochako was radiating, he was unsure of who would win, making this the first match that Naruto actually paid close attention to.

Once the match began, Ochako wasted no time and immediately rushed over to Bakugou in a swift attack. It was probably the best move to make in that situation, but Naruto watched as she was unable to dodge an explosion Bakugou sent her way. Ochako than used the smoke created from the explosion as a diversion. She made her jacket float in front of Bakugou and attempted to attack him from behind, but Bakugou was quicker than her and sent another explosion her way. And then another. And another. Ochako kept on attempting to attack but her attacks were to obvious as Bakugou kept on besting her.

But Naruto thought that the girl did not seem dejected by this. If anything, she kept on making her attacks obvious and was counting on Bakugou's explosions. And when the girl started to make the debris from the ground float with her quirk, it wasn't that hard to figure out what her plan was. Naruto smiled to himself upon realizing this. This wasn't going to make her win the battle, it was always obvious that she would lose, but she did put up one hell of a fight.

As the debris fell, Ochako rushed towards Bakugou but once he released an explosion (the biggest one Naruto had seen him release without his support items) the impact knocked the girl back. And while she didn't give up, she collapsed as her body could no longer continue fighting, resulting in her inevitable defeat.

And with the final match over with…Kirishima and Tetsutetsu could continue to duke it out. It was decided that the two would arm wrestle to see who would make it to the next match. Kirishima was declared the winner when he was able to crack Tetsutetsu's metal that covered his body. With his quirk gone, Kirishima threw his hand down resulting in his win.

And now the second round of battles could begin, this round having four matches. Looking at the screen, Naruto saw that the first battle was going to be Izuku against Todoroki. The battle he was looking forward to the most.

* * *

Shikamaru was angry, which was very out of character for him. But, despite the crowd cheering for Bakugou's win, he couldn't get over how not even a minute before they were booing him for taking his opponent seriously. It reminded him of the days back in the village were people would either take advantage of the weak persona he portrayed and beat him up, or the ones who didn't take him seriously during fights and treated him like he was a joke.

Because the ANBU teenager was still seething in anger, he barely processed when his boss told him (or more like commanded him) to follow him, leaving Shikamaru to chase after the man's retreating figure. Once the teen was able to catch up with the man (by walking, as he had decided that running after the man was too much effort) he was talking to Izuku.

"I watched your fight. You have a wonderful quirk. You created so much wind pressure just by flicking your fingers. If we're talking about power alone, yours is comparable to All Might's." Endeavor told the green-haired boy.

Shikamaru was about to remind the man yet-again that not everything was about quirks when Izuku told the man that he didn't know what he was talking about and walked away. It was brave to do that to the number two hero but when Shikamaru caught the look on his face he saw that the poor boy was shaking with terror.

"It is my Shoto's duty to surpass All Might." Endeavor said, Making Izuku stop in his tracks. "His match with you will be a very instructive test bed. Please don't disgrace yourself in it. That is all I wanted to say. I apologize for bothering you right before a match. I just hope you can help my son reach his full potential by making him use his fire. This is how I should encourage Shoto, correct?" Endeavor directed the last part towards Shikamaru.

"No. you completely misunderstood what I told you before. Whether Midoriya's quirk is similar to All Might's or not, he is not special because of his quirk and you should not treat him as such. He is human, not a walking quirk. Second, don't say 'my Shoto' as your son is not your object. Third, you can't force others to make Shoto use his quirk, it is something that he must do on his own, like I said before." Shikamaru sweat dropped as he told all of this to the older man. Endeavor seemed to ponder on this for a moment, before looking slightly angry. At what, Shikamaru didn't know as it could be multiple things. Endeavor than started walking away and Shikamaru took this as their que to go back to the seats, before Izuku spoke up causing the pair to stop and look at him.

"I am not All Might." Izuku said. "That's obvious, right? Todoroki isn't you either." He told the man, starring straight into his eyes before turning and walking away. The next match was definitely going to be an interesting one.

* * *

**A/N: So Naruto continues to advance in the sports festival and we are finally going to see some more power from him! What did you guys think of think chapter? What did you think about the talks between Endeavor and Shikamaru as well as Todoroki, Izuku, and Naruto? Continue telling me who you think Naruto should intern with! Also, do you think Naruto should end up helping Izuku, Iida, and Todoroki with Stain or do you think he should be doing something else like fighting Nomu's and evacuating citizens?**

**I also apologize for uploading so late (as it is currently 11:30 at night were I am) and my mind wont quiet down. I knocked this out in like two hours and was too excited to wait to upload.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone how has followed and favorited this story. **

* * *

_Naruto's match against Neji in the chunin exams is something that he often thought about. While, at the time, he was a master with his mask he was able to beat Neji without showing off any new techniques, and rather his unusual tactics that he was known for. But there was a moment in time during that battle in which his mask almost slipped because he wanted nothing more than to beat Neji into next month. _

_Treating Hinata, someone he not only cared about but who was also innocent throughout their family affairs made his blood boil and Naruto never understood why Neji took it out on her instead of the clan heads._

_Logically, Naruto knew that he should not fight Neji at full strength, the first and main reason being that it would blow his cover. But emotionally, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he should have done more to beat him, even if they were on better terms now and he had worked through his problems._

* * *

"Thanks for waiting everybody! The first match of the second round is a big match!" Naruto heard Present Mic announce. He wasn't sure how much more of that man and the crowd he could take before his ears would start bleeding.

"The man who won a huge victory in the first round and literally left the audience frozen-from the hero course, it's Todoroki Shoto! On the other hand, this guy barely made it past the first round! What kind of fight will he show us this time? From the hero course, it's Midoriya Izuku!"

Naruto sat forward in his seat, excited for the match to start. This fight would have a major impact on the two boys.

"Eh? Naruto? How long have you been here?" Iida asked. Naruto took his eyes off of the two boys for a second to glance at the class rep who was turned around in his seat and starring at him.

"Since my match ended." He told his classmate.

"Why have you been sitting back there the whole time? Come sit up here and join the class in our observations!"

Naruto considered his options for a second before reluctantly making his way forward and sitting next to the class rep.

"Start!" Present Mic yelled as soon as Naruto sat down. _'The fight has officially begun.'_ Naruto thought to himself as his eyes locked on the battle stage below him.

Todoroki wasted no time immediately sending an ice attack Izuku's way, which he countered by sacrificing a finger to shatter the whole things and send high winds over the crowd. Todoroki than made some ice behind him in order to prevent himself from getting blown out of grounds.

"Wow! Midoriya stopped Todoroki's attack!" Present Mic told everyone as the crowd started screaming.

Todoroki sent more ice Izuku's way which he stopped by breaking another finger. And the same thing happened again.

"Do you think Bakugou is right Uzumaki?" Kirishima asked Naruto, pulling him away from the match.

"Right about what?" Naruto asked the red-haired male.

"About this match being mainly about endurance."

"That is a possibility, but it would still be unclear who would win. Todoroki refuses to use his fire for more than melting his ice attacks, so he will stick to those. But we have only ever seen him use one or two ice attacks before he has already beaten an opponent. So it is hard to know just how much he can use before he runs out. Izuku can stop his ice attacks, but only for so long. He already has two injured fingers before the battle and has already injured three more, so he will only be able to stop the attack five more times before he runs out of fingers. If this fight is something that will come down to endurance, it is unclear who will win." Naruto told his classmates, before ignoring any further conversation and focusing on the fight happening below him.

Todoroki, knowing that his long-range attacks no longer worked, used an attack as a diversion as he made his way over to Midoriya to engage in close-range combat. The trick did work, as Midoriya almost got caught in the attack via his foot and sacrificed his arm in order to get out. Noticing that the two boys were talking to each other, Naruto put his skills to use and listened in on the conversation, blocking out all other noise.

"What, you're that beat up just from defending and running away? Sorry. Thanks Midoriya, that guy's face is clouded over thanks to you. With your arms like that you can't fight anymore, can you? Let's finish this." Todoroki said, before sending yet another ice attack Izuku's way.

"Todoroki keeps attacking with overwhelming power! Here comes the finishing ice attack!" Present Mic said.

Izuku counterattacked by injuring an already-broken finger in order to destroy the ice and cause Todoroki to set several iced walls behind himself in order to not be thrown off of the stage.

"You're trembling, Todoroki." Izuku told his opponent. "Quirks are physical abilities, too. There's a limit to how much cold your body can take, isn't there? And isn't that something you could solve by using the heat from your left side? Everyone's fighting with everything they've got. To win and bet closer to their dream. To become number one. You want to win with just half of your strength?! You haven't out a single scratch on me yet, you know! Come at me with everything you've got!"

"Midoriya what are you planning? Everything I've got? Did my damn old man buy you off or something? Now I'm angry!" Todoroki said before he rushed at his classmate. His movements slowed due to the frostbite his body was now fighting. Because of this, it allowed Izuku to read his attack and get a solid hit on Todoroki by using his quirk and punching him in the stomach. Todoroki was still able to get some ice on Izuku's arm though.

Todoroki sent another ice attack Izuku's way, albeit slower this time, allowing his classmate to dodge the attack. This game of cat and mouse continued for some time before Todoroki asked his classmate why he was going to such extreme lengths to beat him in battle.

"To live up to everyone's expectations! To be a cool hero! There's no way I can know all of your circumstances, or your resolve. But for you to become number one without giving it your all, to completely reject your father…right now, I think you should stop screwing around!" Midoriya said.

"Shut up…" Todoroki growled at his classmate.

"That's why I will win! I will surpass you!" Izuku yelled as he punched Todoroki in the stomach. "It's _your _power, isn't it?!" Izuku continued to yell at his classmate. These words seemed to resonate with Naruto's ice princess classmate as his eyes widened and a large-scale fire attack came from his left side.

"H…he used it." Iida muttered next to Naruto.

"Looks like Izuku finally knocked some sense into him." Naruto said, before turning around in his seat to face Sero. "After all, you can't accomplish what you want without giving it your all." Naruto told everyone but directed the statement at Sero. Sero looked shocked for a second, as if he didn't think Naruto would take his words to heart, before giving Naruto a nod, which he returned before turning back around in his seat and focusing on the battle.

His focus was cut off by Endeavors…enthusiastic scream of "Shoto!" before he went on to say, "Have you finally accepted yourself?! That's it! Good! It all starts from here for you! With my blood, you will surpass me…you will fulfill _our_ desire!" He stated as he walked down the starts to lean over the battle arena. It also wasn't long before Naruto heard his ever so sarcastic and lazy boyfriend trying to keep his boss in check.

"Endeavor, please! Shoto is trying to focus on the battle at hand! You're getting too worked up over this! And don't say shit like that you don't know if that's his dream or not!" Shikamaru yelled at his boss.

"Endeavor suddenly shouts encouragement…? And his employee tries to calm him down I think?" Present Mic announced, confused, as everyone stared at the number two hero and his plus one-Shikamaru.

Focusing back on the battle, Naruto saw Todoroki prepare an ice attack, which disappointed him a little as he wanted to see a fire attack, but he had no room to be picky. He also saw Izuku starting up One For All in his legs to jump over Todoroki's ice attack. It was here that Cementoss called the match, as he got Midnights attention and started to make a barrier between the two boys. Midnight also activated her quirk, but neither of the boys stopped as Izuku moved One For All into his arm and attempted to punch Todoroki as the latter sent a fire attack his way.

Both attacks were intercepted by Cementoss but the walls he put up were destroyed by the attacks as debris and dust blew everywhere along with strong winds, knocking everyone back and almost blowing Midnight away.

"What happened just now? What the hell is up with your class?" Present Mic asked from the floor, as he was also knocked back by the attack.

"The air that had been cooled thoroughly was suddenly heated up and expanded." Aizawa explained.

"That's what created this explosion? Just how hot was that?! Hey, who won the match?" Present Mic asked, now sitting up correctly in his seat.

Once everyone was able to see again, Izuku could be seen passed out against one of the walls, out of bounds, as Todoroki starred at him with half of his uniform burnt off.

"M-Midoriya is out of bounds! Todoroki advances to the third round!" Midnight announced, as the crowd once again went wild, but soon quieted down as the all began to ponder Izuku's actions. Naruto didn't stick around for any conversation as he made his way down to get prepared for his fight against Iida.

* * *

"'You're in my way.' You're not going to say that?" Shikamaru heard the number two hero say. He was currently standing behind the man as they both started at the man's youngest son, who had burned off half of the upper part of his uniform. "You need to control your left side…if you continue to just let it all out, that would be extremely dangerous. But you have abandoned your childish tantrum and finally became the perfect upgrade of me." The man continued as he spread his arms out with a smile on his face.

Just as Shikamaru was about to reprimand his boss for what felt like the hundredth time today, he heard the youngest Todoroki speak up.

"There's no way I can abandon anything. It's not something that can be so easily reversed. It's just back than…for that one moment I completely forgot about you. Whether that's a good or bad thing, correct or not, I need to think about it." Shoto told his father before beginning to walk away.

"What your father is trying to say, Todoroki-san," Shikamaru spoke up, talking to the teen his age before he completely walked away, "is that now, because you are beginning to use your fire, he would like to offer to train you as someone who has mastered the power. How often you use the power is up to you, but you have acknowledged that you need the power in order to defeat enemies that are stronger than you. He just wants to help you make sure that when you decided to use that power, you have the ability to control it and use it correctly. We are not here to pressure you into interning with the agency, we are merely sending you a sales pitch. If you accept or not is completely your decision. Consider the offer, Todoroki-san." Once Shikamaru finished speaking he quickly guided his boss out of the room and back up to the stands to prevent him from saying anything that would make the situation between the two family members even worse.

* * *

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, we are back in business!" Present Mic announced into the speakers that had somehow managed to not break yet from how loud the pro-hero was being. "In this next match, we have the average hero-course student that has somehow made it this far, Uzumaki Naruto!" He announced as Naruto walked onto the stage, with polite cheering from the class.

"Next we have a classmate of Uzumaki's, he also seems pretty average but is faster than the blink of an eye, it's Iida Tenya!" Present mic said to introduce Iida, as he also made his way onto the stage, a determined look on his face.

"I hope you know, Naruto, even though we are classmates I will not be going easy on you. I am here to win." Iida said to Naruto, who opted to just nod in response as he tried not to laugh at the serious tone in Iida's voice. '_I mean, come on! Who takes a sports festival this seriously?'_ Naruto thought to himself. _'No wait, apparently, my whole class does.'_ He added on as an afterthought.

"Start!" Midnight yelled, and Iida wasted no time rushing towards Naruto, probably in hopes to push him out of bounds. Naruto, however, stood completely still, with a relaxed stance.

"And the match has officially started! Iida wastes no time running towards his classmate, who stands still and looks bored! What is going on with Uzumaki? Does he even want to win?" Present Mic told everyone.

Naruto continued to wait just a couple more seconds, ignoring what his English teacher said, and waited for Iida's attempt to grab him, before grabbing Iida's outstretched arm and flipping the boy's body over his shoulder, and then rushing towards the middle of the arena at a speed that rivals Iida.

"Woah! Apparently Uzumaki has some more tricks up his sleeve! He's speedy! If you folks didn't catch that, Uzumaki stopped his classmate by flipping him over his shoulder before running to the center of the stage at a speed that's as fast as Iida's! How is he able to do all of this?! It's almost like he has multiple quirks!" Present mic yelled into the microphone, which also had yet to break.

"Uzumaki has an energy manipulation quirk, which explains how he was able to alter the ground in his previous match, as well as how he is able to enhance his body in certain ways like through the speed and strength that have been demonstrated so far in this battle." Aizawa's lazy and uncaring voice came over the speakers. Naruto was honestly surprised that his teacher was even paying attention to his battle, let alone adding his own commentary about it. He thought that his teacher would have fallen asleep by now

"Now Iida, you didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Naruto asked his classmate, teasing him as he held a smirk on his face.

"I will admit that I did not know what to expect going into this match Naruto. However, I am glad that you are giving me a challenge! I will prevail!" Iida announced as he stood up and began to rush at his classmate again.

"Just because it worked the first time doesn't mean it will the second! You could get some serious long-range attacks with a quirk like that if you thought outside of the box, Iida!" Naruto said before he began running himself, right towards the edge of the stage where the little white line was that marked the bounds. Naruto made sure that Iida was using his full speed to race towards him, and that he wasn't too far in front of his classmate. He then placed his foot right before the white line and used the speed he had to do a backflip to the side.

While Naruto had the skill to pull this off, Iida did not, unfortunately. So, Naruto watched as his classmate desperately tried to stop himself, to no prevail as he slid right outside of the stage, and out of bounds, crashing into the wall.

Everyone went quiet, trying to process what happened, before Midnight raised her whip and said, "Iida is out of bounds, Uzumaki advances to the next round!"

"Alright folks, using Iida's own quirk against himself, Uzumaki was able to lure Iida towards the side of the stage and moved out of the way to prevent himself from running out of bounds! I mean just look at that acrobatics! Iida was not as lucky as he was unable to stop himself in time and slid out of bounds! Maybe he's not as average as we all thought!" Present Mic enthusiastically told everyone.

Naruto missed the angry and defeated look on his classmates face when he punched the ground, as Naruto quickly made his way back into the tunnel in which he emerged from, trying to avoid the screaming that the crowd was doing.

* * *

Naruto made it back to the seats where the rest of his class was just before the next match began.

"Hey man, congratulations on your win." Sero told him as he took a seat next to Kirishima.

"Thanks Sero." Naruto told him, throwing a genuine smile his way, which was reciprocated.

"Yeah Naruto! That wasn't the manliest match, but it was still fun to see you show off your skill like that! You're gonna have to teach me how to do that flip sometime!" Kirishima exclaimed as he clenched his fist in manliness with stars in his eyes, further convincing Naruto that Kirishima was the Rock Lee of this world. He did chuckle sheepishly while throwing a hand behind his back before telling his classmate that yes, he would teach him the flip sometime. Any further conversation was cut off by Midnights "Start!" as everyone payed attention to the next two classmates facing off. This round it was Tokoyami and Ashido.

Tokoyami wasted no time when the match started to send Dark Shadow Ashido's way. She tried to stop the shadow demon by releasing acid from her hands and shooting it at the demon, but it passed right through the shadows body. Ashido quickly stopped her attacks once she realized that it wouldn't work on her opponent and switched to skillfully dodging the demon, but eventually backed up too far and stepped out of bounds, giving the match to Tokoyami.

Another assault on Naruto's ears was led by the crowd. It appeared that his ears were starting to take damage as a small ringing noise could be heard for a few minutes after the crowd had calmed down, leading Naruto to ask Iida to repeat everything he just said, as the boy had made it back sometime during the match and was trying to talk to him.

"I said that I just wanted to thank you for giving me a challenge and exploiting my weakness to me. I will work harder on my reaction time and try to come up with ways to stop myself quicker at higher speeds. I would also like to thank you for giving me a worthy match, but I fail to see how I could make long-range attacks with my quirk, unless I had a weapon of some sort." The class rep told him.

"Oh, uh, no problem, I guess. And did I not say think outside the box? I can meet up with you later and brainstorm ideas for long-range attacks if you want me to." Naruto said.

"That would be very much appreciated, thank you for your help!" Iida said, as he did his signature hand movements before turning back around in his seat and ending the conversation.

The next match was Bakugou against Kirishima, who, thanks to his hardening, was immune to Bakugou's explosions. So, Bakugou resorted to dodging Kirishima's attacks until his quirk started to wear out, which allowed Bakugou to set off a series of explosions and knock Kirishima out resorting in his victory, to Tetsutetsu's dismay as Naruto could hear his complaints over the crowds yelling.

It wasn't long after that match ended that Izuku came back, to his classmates dismay. He declared that he wanted to watch properly, which quickly shut his classmates up to Naruto's confusion. But didn't have time to ponder on the thought as he left to get ready to face off against Todoroki.

"Start!" Midnight yelled, and Naruto's classmate wasted no time sending two ice attacks his way, forcing him to either face his classmate head on, or walk out of bounds. Naruto simply looked at his classmate, scoffed, and then sent a punch to each wall of ice, effectively destroying it.

"Unlike your previous competitor, my fingers won't break destroying your ice. Send all the ice attacks my way that you want, it wont work." Naruto told Todoroki, who now had a scowl on his face and appeared to be thinking about his next move.

It seemed that it only took a couple of seconds for his classmate to reach a decision as Todoroki began running towards Naruto in an effort to have a hands-on battle. Naruto complied, but resorted himself to strictly dodging Todoroki's attacks as he tried to figure out how to force his classmate to use his flames again, wanting to make sure that the last time was not a fluke. _'Earth style attacks won't work, he can just counter with his ice, and the same goes for ice style attacks. I shouldn't use fire because that's what I'm trying to get him to use, so that leaves water. He could counter with his ice but if he does, I can just make the next attack bigger so even if he did use his ice, it wouldn't stop the attack and he would be forced to use his fire to get rid of the water.'_

Nodding his head, as if to confirm to himself that this was the plan of action that he was going to take, Naruto used his speed to back up from Todoroki before bringing his hands together in order to make the proper hand signals before saying, "Water Style: Water Dragon Missile!" which sent a giant water dragon Todoroki's way, stretching as high as the arena that they were in would go. Todoroki could potentially use his ice to counter, but that would soak the audience behind them and leave Todoroki drained from such a large-scale ice attack. So either way it would work in Naruto's favor. It seems that his classmate had also reached the same conclusion as he released his flames, causing the water to evaporate as well as creating a cloud of smoke between the two.

Todoroki used the smoke as camouflage and ran towards his classmate. Naruto allowed the attack to take him by 'surprise' as he had already gotten what he wanted out of his fight. He forced himself to have a late reaction time, allowing Todoroki to use his ice on him and completely cover his body in ice, excluding his head.

Once the smoke cleared and everyone could see the battle stage again, Midnight raised her whip and said, "Uzumaki is immobilized. Todoroki advances to the next round!"

Naruto's ears were forced to take on another attack full force as Todoroki took his time getting the ice off of his classmate, which resulted in Naruto's ears ringing for a few more minutes after the crowd had calmed down. He thought he was getting partially deaf from all of the noise today as he didn't hear Present Mic announce anything after Aizawa had spoken.

The next match was between Bakugou and Tokoyami. Bakugou, who seemed to figure out Dark Shadow's weakness after attacking with is explosions after a couple of times, was able to set off a giant explosion, releasing so much light that Dark Shadow was unable to protect him and Tokoyami, allowing Bakugou to hold down Tokoyami by his face as he left off constant explosions with his other hand, preventing Dark Shadow from attacking. Tokoyami ended up forfeiting allowing Bakugou to face off against Todoroki in the final match.

* * *

"It's finally the final fight of the U.A. sports festival! The top of the first years will be decided with this one match! From the hero course, Todoroki Shoto! Versus, also from the hero course, Bakugou Katsuki!" Announced Present Mic.

"Start!" Midnight yelled, and Bakugou was immediately faced with dozens of ice attacks, which he was able to avoid by smashing them with his explosions, before sending a giant wall of ice Bakugou's way, which he broke out of by setting off various explosions. He then jumped out of the ice and attempted to throw his opponent of of bounds, but Todoroki created an ice wall to prevent that from happening. Bakugou jumped at Todoroki again, but Todoroki caught his arm with his left hand. It seemed like Todoroki was going to use his flames against him but decided against it as he threw Bakugou away from him.

_'Hey gaki, why isn't he using his flames? He would have won if he had done that.'_ Asked an ever so familiar voice in Naruto's head.

_'Well, Kurama, trauma like the one Todoroki faced is not something that he can get over in just a second. When fighting Midoriya, Todoroki wanted to prove that he could beat him as he believes Midoriya to have a blood connection to All Might. When Midoriya spoke to him, his words resonated with Todoroki and allowed him to momentarily forget the stigma he had created around his flames and used them to win. When he fought me, he wanted to prove that he could beat me at what he thought was my full strength, so he also fought with his full strength, but that was mainly because of what happened in his previous match. In this fight, it's just so he can win the sports festival, which was important to him earlier but with everything that has happened to him today, it probably doesn't mean as much anymore. This fight just doesn't have the same significance as his previous battles. And because he is still trying to come to terms with his left side, and through that his trauma, he doesn't have the same thoughtless actions when using it. Coming to terms with that will take more than a day and he will still probably only use it when it is really needed, and he just doesn't see the need to use it in this fight.' _Naruto explained to his fox companion.

_'Wow kit, who thought anyone would see the day when you not only acknowledged mental illness, but also deciphered it. I have to say I'm proud of your growth.'_ Kurama said as he wiped away the crocodile tears that were running down his face.

_'Shut up you oversized cat and stop exaggerating, I've always been like this.'_ Naruto huffed, but blushed from the compliment that was hidden through the fox's actions.

_'Aww is someone blushing?'_ Kurama said, looking to tease Naruto further. But Naruto could not respond before he was shaken out of his thoughts by Izuku yelling, "Todoroki don't lose! Do your best!"

It did seem to work, as Todoroki used his left side and Bakugou began to make his way towards him from the air. But it seemed that Izuku's words didn't have the same impact as before as Todoroki put out his flames just before Bakugou attacked and used his ice instead. But Todoroki was knocked unconscious from Bakugou's attack as well as out of bounds.

Bakugou, who was refusing to accept his victory without fighting Todoroki at his full strength, started to shake his opponent and demand that he use his flames, but Midnight was quick to knock him out and then declare that Bakugou was the winner.

"The winner of this year's sports festival is from Class-A, Bakugou Katsuki!" Present Mic announced and another attack from the crowd was lead onto Naruto's ears.

* * *

"All of the first-year events for this year's U.A. sports festival have been completed. And now, we will begin the award ceremony!" Midnight announced, as fireworks and confetti cannons were set off, and three elevated platforms were created behind the pro hero by Cementoss. Bakugou stood in the number one spot, in restraints that he struggled against, still upset with his win. Todoroki stood in the second spot, his face unreadable, and Tokoyami stood in the third spot, his expression the same as Todoroki's.

All Might than came out to give the metals to each of the students, struggling with an angry Bakugou, before the sports festival was officially over.

* * *

With the festival officially over, Naruto was walking back to class with Sero and Kaminari, who were both talking about how they were going to train "Plus Ultra!" from now on and definitely win the next sports festival. Before Naruto could tease the two boys by asking how long the motivation would last, he sensed an ever-calming presence behind him, followed by the words "Do you have a minute Naruto? I want to Congratulate you on your win today."

Knowing by the tone in his voice, which sounded the same as always but being his boyfriend Naruto could tell something was wrong, he and his two friends turned around to be greeted by the sight of Shikamaru smoking a cigarette. To most the fellow teen would have looked relaxed, but by the way that Shikamaru had tilted his head, as well as how his eyes did not remove themselves from Naruto's, he could tell that his boyfriend was pissed at him. And if he had to guess, it was probably because he broke the low-profile rule that everyone had agreed on and got himself fourth place in the festival.

"Hey your Shikamaru right? Man it's been a hot minute, what's been up with you?" Kaminari asked as he greeted the boy in front of them.

"I know I just saw you a couple weeks ago but it's good to see you again Shikamaru." Sero greeted.

"Of course," Naruto said, answering Shikamaru's question as his fellow shinobi ignored the two other boys before turning to his two classmates, "You two can go on ahead without me, I'll catch up in a second." He said, before walking away with Shikamaru, only to be stopped a couple of seconds later by Kaminari's outburst.

"Hey wait a minute! I was wondering how you were able to get in but now I figured it out! You work for Endeavor, don't you? You actually got the job?! You're close enough to him to yell at him and tell him off on live T.V. and in front of a large crowd?!"

"I help the Endeavor agency analyze villain and vigilante fighting styles as well as Endeavor's fighting style and other pro-heroes that work there in order to aid them and help them take down their enemies. I need to have Endeavors trust, and him mine in order to work smoothly with him. The same goes for the other employees at the agency. So yes, I am that close to him. Besides, I help him correct his fighting style and help in train so he is used to me yelling at him by now." Shikamaru said in an uncaring tone that could rival Aizawa's before grabbing hold of Naruto's upper arm and dragging him into an empty room.

The two boys stared at each other in silence for a couple minutes before Shikamaru finally decided that he should be the one to break it. "I trust you know why I brought you here?" He asked, not bothering to hide his anger anymore.

"Yes, but you know why I did it Shikamaru, it had to be done, and as soon as it was, I stopped and dropped out." Naruto said in a half-assed attempt to defend himself.

"Oh I know why you did it but it is still something that put the mission in danger. Naruto, it wasn't life or death, and they have the resources for mental health here that we don't. Plus, Midoriya was already helping him. It wasn't something that had to be done. As much as you hate to admit it, we both know that you are getting attached to the people here. And that's fine to a certain extent but be careful about who it is and how far it goes." Shikamaru said, scolding him.

Naruto glanced down at the ground, understanding what Shikamaru said and agreeing with the man before he heard his voice again. "That said, I do agree with what you did. Yes, Midoriya did give him the first push but you made sure that the ball kept rolling. But, Jiraiya and Haru won't be pleased, and the Hokage will be pissed so be ready for that. But you did good." He said, before walking over to ruffle Naruto's hair before exciting the room.

Naruto stared at the door where Shikamaru had just left, dumbstruck by what he had just said. He would have never thought that Shikamaru would say that. The ringing of the bell signaling that class was about to start shook Naruto out of his trance as he made his way to his class.

* * *

"Good work. So there will be no school tomorrow or the day after. I'm sure the pro heroes who watched the sports festival will want to recruit you, but we'll consolidate everything and announce it when you get back. So rest well and look forward to that." Aizawa announced in his usual, full of joy way (read: extremely uncaring), before dismissing the class for their mini break.

Ans with that, Naruto prepared himself for the yelling that would happen as soon as he stepped foot into his apartment.

* * *

**A/N: So what did you all think of this chapter? Shikamaru continues to try to help out with the Todoroki family. Naruto exposes more of his power to the delight of his classmates, but Shikamaru and the other shinobi do not feel the same way about this. The Stain arc is coming up next so more interaction with the LOV will be coming up. Continue to tell me your thoughts on who Naruto should do his internship with and what he should do during the battle with Stain, as well as what you thought about the various events that took place in today's chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_Naruto was barely able to open his door all the way before rough hands were grabbing him and dragging him across his house and throwing him onto the couch that was in the living room. Rearranging himself so he was no longer facing the back of the couch or laying down, Naruto looked up and was met with the gaze of two very unhappy adults, and a boyfriend who was looking forward to the yelling at the other was about to endure. _

_For a couple of very tense minutes that felt like hours to Naruto, no one spoke. They all just stared at each other waiting for someone to make the first move. That someone happened to be Haru, who clenched his fists and took a step forward. "Do you understand how completely-" his sentence was cut off by Jiraiya lifting up his hand to cut off the other man, whose voice was raising with every word. _

_"Naruto," The man said, extremely calm, which made Naruto tense up in more ways than he thought possible. "do you understand the consequences of what you did today during that festival? And how this could completely fuck over the entire mission?" Jiraiya asked the teen that was sitting on the couch, moving to cross his arms over his chest._

_"Yes, I understand the risks I took today and the consequences that will come with it." Naruto whispered, he wanted to look everywhere but the eerily calm man in front of him that he knew was burning with rage on the inside, but his ANBU training wouldn't allow him to do that. _

_"Good, and did you understand these risks before you decided to do what you did?" Jiraiya asked, his voice still calm but Naruto could sense the irritation slipping into it. _

_"Yes sir." Naruto mumbled, still locked onto the older man's gaze but wanting nothing more than to hide behind the couch. _

_"Then would you care to enlighten the rest of us as to why you suddenly decided to screw us all over?" This time, Jiraiya did not bother to hide the irritation and anger that he was feeling as his eyebrows went into his hairline with disbelief, making Naruto want to flinch. _

_"I know that this society is very different than ours." Naruto began, _

_"But that doesn't mean that people are still not wronged by those in power here in ways that are terrible. The boy, Todoroki, was probably wronged by his family the same way that someone in our world has been. I needed him to see something, and I had to confirm it for myself. It was only a couple extra matches that I competed in, and I think with the turnout of the winners this year there won't be as much attention to someone who got the place I did as there have been in years past."_

_"You are building personal connections with the people here." Jiraiya stated. His tone unreadable, so Naruto couldn't tell if he thought that this was a good or bad thing. It also wasn't a question, so Naruto didn't move and decided to wait for the man to continue. _

_"Of course, this is something that is to be expected. It is not an evil organization that you are infiltrating, but you are simply observing the people here. This is also your first infiltration mission, and it is with kids that are so close to your age." Jiraiya continued._

_"It is fine to build connections here, Naruto. But do not let them get in the way of the mission again. And don't build such strong bonds that you will want to stay here. Also, NEVER AGAIN will you go beyond the power limit that was previously discussed, although that will have to change now that you did that little show in the festival. But do keep in mind that if you do something like this again, someone else will take your spot in this mission. Henge's can be very useful." It was here that Jiraiya decided to end the conversation, signaled by him turning and walking out the door, not seeing that Naruto hung his head once he had finished speaking._

_Haru lingered for another second, still seething in anger. He opened his mouth, probably wanting to yell at Naruto to get rid of his own anger, but once he saw how defeated the young teen looked, he did the same thing that the other man did and left without saying goodbye._

* * *

Naruto stood by the doors of the school, switching out his shoes for the day. The heavy rain pouring in from outside reminded him of the day that he lost one of the greatest people in his life. It reminded him of the day that the Third Hokage died by the hands of Orochimaru, the man who had also taken one of his best friends from him.

Thoughts of anger and aggression consumed the teen before he was pulled out of his thoughts by Izuku asking Iida a question.

"If it's about my brother, there is no need to worry. I apologize for worrying you needlessly." Iida said, before walking away and heading to class.

Naruto watched his classmate walk away before staring down at the shoe he was previously trying to tie. The laces were wrapped tightly around his hands and pulling so hard on his foot that circulation in both body parts had been cut off. Naruto hadn't realized how angry that he had been getting and was thankful that he hadn't tried to draw upon any of Kurama's chakra unconsciously.

Loosening the laces on his shoes and tying them, Naruto quickly ran up to Izuku to walk with the other male to class.

"Hey…what was with Iida earlier? What happened to his bother?" Naruto asked the green haired male.

"Oh, um, his brother was caught up in a villain attack on the day of the sports festival. It's why he had to early. Last I heard he was in the hospital, but I guess he's okay now." Izuku told him. Naruto just sent Izuku a nod to let him know that he heard him before the two friends finished their journey to class in silence.

* * *

Naruto watched as his classmates talked about how they were all recognized on their way to school, each having sparkles in their eyes and talking about how amazing U.A. was for getting them recognized. The talk was cut off a couple of minutes later by their teacher opening the door and saying, "Good morning." to all of the students, where he received an enthusiastic "Good morning!" in response.

"Aizawa-sensei, your bandages are gone. I'm glad." Naruto heard his frog-like classmate announce.

Glancing up at his teacher, Naruto saw that she was in fact right. His previously mummified teacher was now back to looking like his normal hobo self. Seeing his teacher no longer covered head to toe in bandages was something that brought Naruto more sense of relief than he thought it would.

"The old lady went overboard with her treatment." Aizawa said, scratching his face. While he didn't look embarrassed, Naruto could tell from that one action that his teacher was, indeed, embarrassed and probably felt guilty for making his students worry. "More importantly, we're having a special hero informatics class today. Code names. You'll be coming up with code names." Aizawa told the class, who all began to celebrate at the prospect of doing something exciting. One glance at the class with his quirk activated was all his teacher needed to do, apparently, before they all quieted down.

"This is related to the pro hero draft picks I mentioned the other day. The drafts begin in earnest in the second and third years after students have gained experience and can become immediate assists to the pros. In other words, for them to extend offers to first years like you shows that they are interested in your future potential. These offers are often cancelled if that interest dies down by graduation." Aizawa explained to the class.

"So we'll have to prove ourselves once we get picked, huh?" Asked Hagakure.

"That's right. And here are the totals for those with offers." Aizawa said, before pressing a remote as a screen came up behind him and showed the class the number of offers everyone got. Looking for his name, which was fourth on the list, Naruto saw that he got 301 offers, unusually low for someone who typically places in his spot, but it made sense when he looked at the gaps in the number of offers that each student got.

"In other years, it's been more spread out, but all eyes were on these two this year." Aizawa told everyone as the pointed to the screen behind him.

After a brief conversation about Bakugou's attitude and why Todoroki got more offers than him, Aizawa began talking again to get the classes attention back. "Keeping these results in mind, whether or not anymore asked for you, you will all be participating in internships with pros." He told the class.

"Internships?" Izuku asked.

"Yes. At USJ, you already got to experience combat with real villains, but it will still be meaningful training for you to see pros at work firsthand. Well, the hero names are still temporary, but if you're not serious about it…" Aizawa told the class, but the classroom door opened before he could finish his sentence and Midnight barged in saying,

"…you'll have hell to pay later!" finishing the sentence for the homeroom teacher. "Because a lot of hero names used by students become recognized by society, and they end up becoming professional hero names!" She continued, walking to the front of the class next to Aizawa.

"Well, that's how it is. So Midnight will be making sure your names are okay. I can't do stuff like that." Before the class could question why Aizawa wasn't qualified to help with their hero names, he continued speaking. "When you give yourself a name, you get a more concrete image of what you want to be like in the future, and you can get closer to it. This is what it means when they say, 'Names and natures do often agree.' Like 'All Might,' for example."

Once he finished speaking, whiteboards and markers were passed around the room for everyone to write their hero name on.

_'So kit, what's it gonna be?'_ Kurama asked Naruto, genuinely interested in what Naruto was going to pick for his name.

_'Well, I really think there's only one thing it can be. After all, a hero name should represent your best quality.'_ Naruto told his tendent, before writing his hero name on his board.

Naruto watched as one by one his classmates began presenting their hero names. Some got turned away, like Ashido's Alien Queen, while others were absolutely loved by Midnight, such as Yaoyorozu's Creati. About halfway through the presentations, Naruto decided that he should just get his over with.

"Well, here goes nothing." Naruto muttered to himself as he stood up and made his way to the front of the room. " I wanted to choose a name that would keep me tied to my home roots while also representing the type of hero I want to be. So, for my hero name, I have chosen the name 'Unpredictable!" Naruto said as he turned his board around to reveal the word 'Unpredictable' written on it.

"Huh?" Midnight asked.

"In my home village I was known for playing pranks when I was younger and getting out of fights with other kids through unusual methods that were unpredictable because I would change my approach every time. I was also able to place so high in the sports festival by using different styles of attack and different energies so my opponent wouldn't know what my next attack would be. I want to be known as a hero who is unpredictable and gets out of every situation no matter how high the odds are against me." Naruto explained to his teacher.

"I see. Something meaningful to you personally while also letting others know the type of person you are. I love it! Approved! Next?" Midnight said, as Naruto made his way back to his seat.

Naruto resumed watching his classmates present their names. This included Ochako's Uravity, which was loved by Midnight, while Bakugou's King Explosion Murder was turned away by the teacher, and how Izuku's Deku shocked the class but was still accepted by them.

The serious atmosphere that the class had adapted was broken not even a minute later by Bakugou presenting his improved hero name, Lord Explosion Murder, which was again turned down by Midnight. And the class laughed, despite the blond boy's death threats, as he was told to stay after school to work on a hero name with Midnight.

It was after this that Aizawa awoke from his nap and began to teach the class once again. "Now that everyone's decided on their hero names, we'll go back to talking about the internships. They will last for a week, those who had offers from pros will be given your own lists so you can choose from those yourself. Those who didn't have offers will choose from among forty agencies around the country that will accepting our interns. They all work in different places and have different specialties." Aizawa told the class.

"For example, Thirteen would be focused on rescues from accidents and disasters more than fighting villains." Midnight said.

"Think carefully before you choose." Aizawa told the class, before he began passing out the papers to everyone. "Turn in your sheets by the end of the week. Make your decision efficiently. Dismissed." He continued once he finished passing out the papers and walked out of the classroom.

* * *

It was during lunch that everyone decided to look over their internships and begin to think about who they would choose.

"Hey, hey, have you guys decided what agency you're going to yet?" Ashido asked, slumped over her desk as she stared at her paper with the forty agencies to choose from.

"Ashido, are you upset about how far you made it into the sports festival?" Naruto asked.

"What? No! Why?!" She asked him, alert and confused by the question.

"Well, it's just that despite how far you made it into the tournament, you didn't get any offers for the internship." Naruto told her.

"You said it!" She exclaimed, standing up.

"Well, I already know who I'm interning with." Kirishima said.

"Really bro? Who?" Asked Sero.

"Fourth kind." He answered.

"The Chivalrous Hero?" Asked Kaminari.

"Yup!" Kirishima answered, while giving them a thumbs up.

"Wow that…really suits you Kirishima. Is he the closest thing you could find to Crimson Riot on your forms?" Naruto asked, teasing the red-haired male.

"Don't make fun of me Naruto!" Kirishima yelled at his classmate, embarrassed. "But I figured I should probably work close with the heroes that I am trying to be like. Also, he's known to have a really good fighting style, and I know from my battle with Bakubro that my hardening won't get me everywhere, I need to account for when I am unable to use it for whatever reason. I'm hoping to pick up some battle skills from him that I can use." Kirishima told the group.

"Wow that's actually really smart and mature of you Kirishima." Ashido told him.

"Thanks Mina!" He exclaimed, not noticing the hidden sarcasm in her statement.

"Hey…is Bakugou okay? He's been trembling in his seat this entire time with an angry expression on his face ever since he got his form. And he didn't react when Kirishima called him Bakubro. He hates that." Kaminari whispered to the group that surrounded him.

The group quickly looked over at the male in question to see that yes, he was trembling angrily in his seat, clutching his form so hard that he might break it. The group turned back to each other and all shared a look before quickly and quietly shuffling away from the angry male, throwing glances his way every couple of seconds.

* * *

"I'm home!" Naruto announced, as he closed his door, took off his shoes, and made his way into his living room where Jiraiya, Shikamaru, and Haru were all sitting. "We got our internship forms today." He continued, throwing the form onto the table before sitting next to Shikamaru on the couch, who wasted no time wrapping an arm around his boyfriend as soon as he was seated.

Naruto had been expecting Jiraiya, and if not him than someone else in the room, to look at the form before telling him where he was expected to accept the internship from. However, Haru just crossed his arms over his chest and held Naruto's questioning gaze for a few seconds before saying, "We don't care where you intern, as long as it is in Hosu."

Naruto frowned for a few seconds and moved his gaze from Haru to the floor, before looking back at everyone in the room. "Is the Stain problem really that bad?" He asked. "Do you want me to take care of him?"

Jiraiya shifted in his seat, bringing his elbows to his knees and resting his chin on his hands and locking his eyes with Naruto's. "Yes, he is getting that bad. Normally we wouldn't meddle in an affair like this but what Stain is doing is really getting out of hand, and the heroes aren't making any progress on his capture. There is also a rumor that he is now affiliated with the league of villains, and we don't have Sasuke here yet to get a handle on that." Jiraiya explained to him.

"We don't need you to 'take care of him' as you put it." Haru added. "All we want you to do is monitor the situation, and if you and the hero that you are with happen to run into him than help take him down, but don't kill him. We don't need you thrown in jail for going overboard." Haru continued, teasing the younger shinobi with the last part of his explanation.

"Or, you could always intern with someone that you know will be going to Hosu." Shikamaru said, giving his boyfriend a knowing look as he moved his hand from Naruto's hip to his arm were his fingers danced across the others skin.

"If you are gonna start something, you have to be there to finish it." Jiraiya told Naruto.

Naruto locked eyes with each person in the room individually, all of which had tiny smirks on their face, before relaxing into his boyfriends embrace and mirroring everyone's facial expression. He then moved his eyes to the form that rest in the middle of the room before saying "Well, I think I know where I am interning now."

* * *

"You all have your costumes, right? Remember, you aren't allowed to wear them in public. Don't drop them or anything." Aizawa told his class. They were all currently in their uniform and standing outside of a train station, bags packed and hero costumes with them in order to prepare for the upcoming internships that would start as soon as they arrived at their respective agencies.

"Yessir!" Ashido yelled, unable to contain her excitement.

"Speak clearly! It's 'yes sir' Ashido." Aizawa reprimanded, but Naruto had a feeling that the man didn't really mind and was only doing this to maintain a public appearance.

"Yes sir." Ashido responded, mood put out by her teachers scolding.

"Make sure you mind your manners with the heroes at your internships! Off with you now." Aizawa said, dismissing his class.

"Alright, ready to go Todoroki?" Naruto asked his icy classmate. He simply nodded in response and glanced at his phone before making his way to where their train would be picking them up.

Glancing behind him, Naruto saw Iida walking away from Izuku and Ochako, and the picture left a sour taste in his mouth. Not wanting his classmate to do anything stupid, Naruto told Todoroki that he would catch up with him and made his way over to the class rep.

"Hey Iida," He said, causing the other boy to stop in his tracks and look behind him. "don't be a stranger. Call sometime, it will be weird not seeing you for an entire week. And don't be afraid to call if you need help. Believe that I will always be there if any of my friends are ever in trouble." He said, giving his classmate a close-eyed smile and sending a thumbs up his way.

"That's a very admirable quality, Naruto, and likewise. Look luck during your internship." Iida said, giving him a small smile and bowing before turning back around and walking towards his train. Naruto stared at the retreating form of his friend for a second, before turning around and jogging in the other direction in order to meet up with Todoroki.

* * *

**A/N: So what does everyone think of this chapter? Jiraiya gets Naruto to think about how he is handling the mission and sends him mixed signals concerning his actions during the sports festival. Naruto is also joining Todoroki during the internships. But how did you like this chapter? How do you feel about the talks between Naruto, Jiraiya, Haru, and Shikamaru? And what do you all want to see during the internships? **


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_Naruto and Sasuke stood at the bridge that Team 7 met at every day. Sakura had yet to arrive, stating a couple days prior that if Kakashi-sensei was going to show up late everyday than she could talk an extra hour and a half to get ready and get some extra sleep. _

_So, the two boys currently basked in the silence that surrounded them. Naruto sat against the bridge cross-legged, trying to decide how he wanted to annoy his raven-haired teammate that morning._

_Glancing over at his teammate, Naruto saw that he was a couple feet away from him leaning on the railing of the bridge, his arms were crossed over his chest and he had his usual brooding look on his face, but Naruto could tell something was different about it that day. The look in his eyes was darker than normal and Naruto could already tell that he would be more focused on his brother and getting stronger than he normally was. That was when Naruto remembered the date and what day it was. Today was the day that Itachi killed his entire family-save his younger brother that was currently standing in front of Naruto. _

_Debating his options for a few moments, Naruto decided that he should grace his teammate with a few words of wisdom this morning. _

_"Don't stay so focused on the past." He said, bringing Sasuke out from his thoughts and gaining his attention._

_"Hn?" He asked, not bothered by the fact that the blonde had broken his train of thought, letting Naruto know about his teammate being off that day. _

_"Don't stay to focused on the past." He repeated. "It's good to get closure, but don't forget about the present and the future. Remember the people that care about you, like our team, and all of our friends from the academy. Also remember to think about what you want in the future. Have you ever thought about what you will do after you kill your brother?" Naruto asked his teammate._

_"Since when did you get so smart dobe?" Sasuke asked, smirking down at his teammate. _

_"I've always been smart teme! You just haven't noticed!" Naruto exclaimed, putting his fist to the air and sticking his tongue out at his teammate before bringing his arm back to his side and looking in front of him. "But seriously, don't forget about all of the good things you have around you." _

_Hearing this, Sasuke continued smirking at his teammate, but Naruto could see the ghost smile forming on his face and the look in his eyes that told Naruto he appreciated what he was saying. "Sure dobe." Was the only response Naruto got, but it was good enough for him. _

* * *

The ride to the hero agency was something that Naruto hoped would never happen again. Despite taking the train to and from school, Naruto still wasn't very fond of the transportation and took every chance that he could to walk or run places, as the travel on trains made him extremely uneasy and always had him on high alert.

However, because of the current situation that he was in, he had to keep up appearances and endure the train ride, as well as the uncomfortable stares his classmate sent him for the first 30 minutes of the ride before eventually falling asleep.

With his classmate asleep, Naruto took this opportunity to look more closely at his classmate. Not much was known about him, his file only held the basic stuff like his height and weight, and he wasn't known for being the most talkative person in class. In fact, the conversation at the sports festival was the first that he had with his duel-haired classmate. Despite knowing about his home life and quirk, Naruto didn't know anything about him.

Realizing this saddened Naruto. He not only wanted to help the other teen with him homelife, but also his social life. He came to the decision that when he wasn't busy with his mission, he would spend his time trying to befriend the boy.

Shaking his hand and returning to the task at hand, Naruto studied his sleeping classmate. His classmate was someone that looked relaxed but was constantly tense no matter what was going on around him. Naruto was honestly surprised that the boy felt comfortable enough around him to lower his guard enough to fall asleep and looked so relaxed. Either that or the boy sleeping across from him was just that tired. But how someone could ever fall asleep in a car or other mode of transportation was beyond Naruto's understanding. So many things could go wrong and you wouldn't even notice it because you were asleep. You would either wake up to a disaster, or never wake up at all.

This thought process was the exact reason why Naruto was as stiff as a board and constantly scanning the train cart, as well as listening to everything that was happening to make sure that nothing went wrong. Was he perhaps just being a bit paranoid? Yes, you could say that, but Naruto was not taking the risk of having either one of them die that day. Besides, if it tired him out that much, he could always go to bed earlier.

* * *

"I have been waiting for you, Shoto. You as well Uzumaki. It seems that you are finally ready to take the path of the mighty than, my son? And any friend of my trusted tactic is always welcome here." This was the first thing that Endeavor said to the two boys as they walked into his office once they had finally arrived at his hero agency. The number two hero was standing behind his desk, arms crossed over his chest with a smug air around him, while Shikamaru stood next to the man, but was also a few steps behind him. He had his hands crossed behind his back as he nodded to the two boys that had come to a stop in front of the desk.

The younger Todoroki, despite looking tense and angry, kept his composure (which did not come as a shock to anyone in the room) and addressed his father. "I have no intention of going down a path you made. I will take my own path." He calmly told the eldest man in the room.

Despite being told off by his son, the man just scoffed, his smug air not wavering for a second. "Oh well, you both should get ready. We're going out." He told the pair.

"Where?" Shoto asked his father, surprised by the fact that they would be patrolling at all. Naruto was honestly starting to feel a little left out and the two family members had probably forgotten about the two shinobi in the room.

"I'll show you what a real hero is." The man said, smirking down at the boy in front of him.

"To elaborate," Shikamaru said, walking forward to stand next to the hero, startling the two fire users in the room and reminding them of his presence. "is that while you both are his it is our job to make sure that you get a better understanding of what it means to be a hero and what the duties of a hero are. Because it is your first day here and because of the long train ride, we thought that we would start off with something that would not only give you an opportunity to stretch your legs, but also be something that heroes are typically seen doing. Starting off with patrolling the surrounding area is a good opportunity for us to slowly introduce to you what it means to be a hero because it is something expected. Throughout the rest of your week-long stay here, we will also show you the more difficult stuff that you usually don't see heroes doing but starting off simple seemed to be the best way to go." Shikamaru told the two boys, slightly glaring at the hero in the room towards the end of his explanation, as if to tell him to stop focusing on his goal and actually do his job as someone who is meant to be educating interns.

And with that, Naruto and Shoto left to change and patrol with Endeavor.

* * *

Naruto was currently standing in the shower, trying to physically wash away the awkwardness that had settled over the three males during the patrol. Endeavor kept on trying to "show off" to Shoto and lead him down "the path of the mighty". Shikamaru was not there to keep the man in check, so both boys were forced to listen to him. Todoroki would occasionally say an off-hand comment to try and get the man to stop but nothing worked as he continued his tangent no matter what happened

Naruto had never had a stronger urge to kill himself then he did in that moment.

Additionally, while Naruto was allowed to see Shikamaru, they didn't get the chance to talk at all that day further adding to the boys frustrations.

Looking down at his body, Naruto realized that if he continued to scrub his body with soap his skin would start of peel, so he turned off the water and dried himself off, getting ready for bed while grumbling to himself about how he didn't see enough of Shikamaru that day.

No physical training that day happened either, so when Naruto made it to his new room for the week and threw himself on the bed, he debated on what he should do to burn out all of his energy. Or rather, what he could do that would tire him out without drawing any attention to himself. This is why is mood was instantly lifted when he felt Shikamaru's chakra just a second before his door was opened and his boyfriend strutted into the room in all of his glory.

He looked around the room for a brief second before spotting Naruto on the bed and smirking at him before saying "follow me" in a tone that suggested his boyfriend had something planned for them. Smiling to himself, Naruto scrambled out of the bed and jogged to catch up to his boyfriend.

As if trying to tease him, Shikamaru glanced at Naruto over his shoulder and smirked at him yet again before also picking up his pace to a jog. Naruto, not one to be one-upped was about to pick up his speed before remembering that he was still at the Endeavor agency and couldn't make too much noise or run at his full speed. The next time Shikamaru looked back, he was met with the scowling face of his boyfriend.

The two continued through the various hallways of the Endeavor Agency before coming to a currently unused training room on one of the lower-level floors. Thinking that Shikamaru brought them down there to spar, Naruto began to ger excited at the idea of getting rid of some of his energy and pushing himself. This thought was shut down by Shikamaru instructing him to sit down as soon as they entered the room.

"You brought me all the way here…just to sit on the floor with you?" Naruto slowly asked his boyfriend, not believing what he was hearing.

"Naruto, you know I love you, but your chakra control has been shit since day one. And that's me saying it nicely. When we were actively taking missions in the village that challenged us, it was fine because you would practice every day and got it under control. But let's face it both of us have started to lose our touch since coming here. I know that you have been skipping out on your daily chakra exercises since coming here." He said in a matter-of-fact tone, adding the last part of his statement before Naruto could finish opening his mouth to complain.

"We're both rusty and we need to burn off some built-up energy but we can't spar in a way that would use up our energy, the building wouldn't be here anymore knowing you. So, we will do the next best thing which is sit here and focus on our chakra, letting it into the floor and meeting in the middle so we can touch up on our control and burn off some energy. Sound good?" Shikamaru continued, looking at his boyfriend to approve of the plan that he had just set out for the pair.

"Yeah, sounds good." Naruto sighed, shoulders slumping in disappointment once he realized that Shikamaru left no room for arguing or sparing.

The exercise went better than expected, Shikamaru making little to no mistakes throughout the entire exercise (the smug bastard) while Naruto, despite having more of a rough start, quickly fell back into the routine of things and got his chakra under control. The boys did this exercise for about an hour and a half before stopping. Shikamaru was almost out of chakra and Naruto had been straining from not letting to much go while also holding back Kurama's chakra.

Both boys took a minute to rest before making their way to the doors. Before opening the doors, the pair shared a brief, but soft and passionate kiss before parting and making their way to their respective bedrooms (Naruto would be staying at the agency because of the internship along with Todoroki. Endeavor would also be staying because he was in charge of the two and Shikamaru because he always helped the hero out and was roped into observing the two boys and helping them improve in various aspects).

* * *

The next morning consisted of Naruto trying to shove a bagel down his throat as both he and Todoroki made their way to the father of the latter's office. Arriving at 6:30 A.M. on the dot, Naruto politely knocked on the door before hearing a muffled "Come in." from the number two hero. Opening the door, both boys were greeted with the sight of Endeavor doing paperwork while Shikamaru sat by an opening window finishing off the last of his cigarette.

"Shoto, I am sure you are wondering how I will lead you down the path of the great today!" Was the first thing out of the number two heroes mouth as soon as Todoroki and Naruto shut the door and stood in front of his desk.

"Endeavor, please, do remember that Naruto is also here so you should be focusing on both of them, not just one. Additionally, try not to assume what your son is thinking." Shikamaru lazily reprimanded from his position by the window.

"Ah, yes, well, never mind that." Endeavor said, brushing off his employee. "While a great hero must always be prepared for the unexpected, I will tell you boys the plan for the day since this is an internship. Today, I will be testing both your battle skills and quirk abilities with the help of Shikamaru over here." The hero continued, pointing over to the other male that had now put out his cigarette and was making his way over to the desk.

"We will go outside, where you both will spar with each other so I can see more of how I can lead you both down the path of the great from where you currently stand. Once the fight is over, we will both work with you in the areas that we see fit for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, is when you will finally get a further glimpse into the world of the great!"

"Please Endeavor, try not to get to worked up about the future. Take this internship one day at a time. Would you like to start heading down to the battle grounds?" Shikamaru told the number two hero, calming him down while also putting his mind back on task.

"Yes, it is finally time for us to get you two to improve!" Endeavor exclaimed, getting out of his chair and motioning for the others to follow him out the door.

_'Well, at least he remembered that Shika and I were here this time.'_ Naruto thought to himself, before sharing a look with Shikamaru, were the others eyes told him that today certainly would be a long day. Sighing to himself, Naruto followed the two Todoroki's out the door.

* * *

Naruto leaned against one of the many walls of earth he had just created in his recent fight against Todoroki. The entire fight lasted less than five minutes, but it seemed to be enough for Shikamaru and Endeavor as they both stood off to the side quietly talking to each other.

The only rules set during the fight were to not knock the other out (and not killing the other was implied considering it was illegal here) which was why there was no true 'winner' to the fight. Todoroki mainly spent the time attacking with his fire side, which Naruto had to applaud, and Naruto spent his time using earth or air attacks to dodge the attacks. When Todoroki did try to catch Naruto off guard by using an ice attack, Naruto would simply punch the ice to destroy it and rush towards Todoroki to try and force him into hand-to-hand combat as opposed to long-ranged attacks which Todoroki was known to use.

Eventually, Todoroki would get the advantage over Naruto (read: Naruto would allow Todoroki to get the advantage over him once Todoroki noticed one of the MANY openings he left on himself) and the cycle would continue until Shikamaru and Endeavor told them to stop and take a breather.

Todoroki, on the other hand, was laying with his back down to the ground, panting heavily. Probably overheating from the fire he used during the fight along with the heat coming from the sky above. This time, however, Todoroki was wearing the proper clothing so he was-thankfully-still fully clothed and didn't have half of his shirt burned off.

He did appear to be using his other side to cool himself down, if the grass beginning to frost around him was anything to go by.

"Shoto!" Endeavor boomed, walking towards the two boys with Shikamaru beside him, effectively gaining the attention of both boys. "it appears that you will begin with me first! I will teach you the proper way to control and use your flames! Later you will join Shikamaru to work on your close-hand combat. Naruto," He said, surprising Naruto as he was sure the man would conveniently 'forget' that he was there. "You will begin with Shikamaru and work on various battle techniques that you can use, Shikamaru said something about noticing opportunities that you didn't take. After that you will join me for control training. Shikamaru again brought up something about your walls being too high and that was because of your energy output." Endeavor finished, motioning for his son to follow him as they walked a little ways away were they could still see each other, but there was enough space that they couldn't hear each other.

Turning back to his boyfriend, who was beginning to light another cigarette, Naruto asked, "How many times did you have to remind him that he also had to train me?"

"Seven." Was the immediate response from Shikamaru as he blew some smoke from out of his mouth.

"He didn't even pay attention to me during the fight, did he?" Naruto asked, sighing in exasperation.

Shikamaru snorted upon hearing Naruto's question. "Of course not, why do you think he kept saying that I said stuff?"

"Ok so this strategy stuff, are we fighting or just talking about it?"

"Just talking about it for the time being. I know you were trying to down your skill, but even than you still left way to many openings. Todoroki noticed most of them, he was just hesitant to use them. I want to see if we can come up with a stance that will leave you with less openings while still not revealing to much. And one that you can actually use in a fight, mist styles that heroes here won't work with the way that we've been trained so it will be a little thinking outside of the box today. If we have enough time, we can put some of our theories to test. But if we run out of time, we can always try it another day." Shikamaru told Naruto, moving to sit down and motioning for Naruto to do the same.

Once the latter had done as he asked, Shikamaru produced a legal pad and pencil before he and Naruto began brainstorming.

It wasn't long before trouble between the two Todoroki's reached its peak. Maybe an hour and a half at best. Small arguments had erupted between the father and son since they had started training, but nothing to the scale where Naruto and Shikamaru felt the need to step in. But then they heard Endeavor yell, "SHOTO NO! YOU ARE NOT LISTENING TO WHAT I SAY! YOU AREN'T IMPROVING QUICKLY ENOUGH!" The two boys looked over abruptly to see Endeavor kicking his son in the knees, forcing the teen into the earth, face first.

Glancing at each other, the two shinobi had a quick conversation with their eyes before they were making their way to the hero.

"Endeavor, I do believe that is enough." Shikamaru calmly said as he walked with his hands in his pockets to stand between the father and son, and hopefully get the former to take a couple of steps back. Naruto had walked over to the younger Todoroki, offering him a hand up, which was taken after a moment of hesitation from the boy, and Naruto began to quickly scan him over for any injuries.

"No, if he is to improve than there is no time for breaks, he simply needs to learn to listen to me." Endeavor angrily said, glaring down at his employee.

"I understand your frustration Endeavor, but I am afraid that I do not agree with your logic. If you want to improve to your best self, you cannot push yourself beyond repair. I do agree that you should push yourself past your limits, but it should be done in a way that will not permanently damage you. You also need to know when you are going too far beyond your limits and need to take a break. You are expecting too much from your son to quickly. And please, do remember that he has used a limited amount of his fire side over the years. His body needs the chance to get used to the amount of power coming from that side of his quirk as he has never used it to this extent before. You can't expect him to use it as well as his other side in such a limited amount of time. Remember that it has taken him years to be as skilled with his ice and it might be the same amount of time with his fire." Shikamaru calmly explained to his boss, meeting his gaze and not breaking under it. Naruto could actually see the fire in Shikamaru's eyes letting him know that he was just as angry as him, and his gaze actually started to have Endeavor sweat a little bit.

Rather than let Endeavor make another comment, Naruto decided that he was going to step in. "You do know that child abuse, which is what Shikamaru and I have just witnessed, is illegal correct? And something like that definitely wouldn't look good for a hero." Naruto began, smirking up at the older man. "And neglecting another intern is also something that wouldn't look good for a hero, especially one that has claimed the number two spot. I wonder what the media would think if they caught wind of this? Maybe they should start with trying to figure out why Todoroki has that scare on his face. How they never questioned it before is beyond me." Naruto continued, as Endeavor began to switch his weight from one foot to another, a classic sign of someone being nervous.

"I actually have a couple theories for that one. Especially since it was around the same time that your wife got admitted to a psychiatric facility correct?" Shikamaru said, backing up Naruto's claims.

Clearing his throat, Endeavor took a moment to collect himself and had an air of false confidence around him as he spoke. "You two wouldn't do that. Many people would lose their jobs if that happened. So many wouldn't be able to provide for their families. And besides, no one would believe your claims.

"I may only be a student here for a week, but being a hero in training has to give me some credit, right? Besides, I am sure that there are many employees here that would be happy to back me up and come forward with their own claims." Naruto said, a smug look on his face.

"And as someone who is constantly around you and helping you, I am sure that my claims would pull their own weight. Besides, if your hero license was removed, all of your sidekicks are given the option to step up and take over the agency." Shikamaru told him. "So, as someone who is literally paid to help you with everything, I suggest that you go inside your office and calm yourself down. Maybe do some of your remaining paperwork while you are up there. I can handle everything down here. And don't worry, we won't report you now, but you should take a good look in the mirror and consider fixing some of your many problems." Shikamaru continued.

Rather than say anything more to embarrass himself, Endeavor made the smart decision and turned around to walk back into the building.

Turning to face both of the interns, Shikamaru swallowed a sigh and got to work with both of the boys.

* * *

The day actually turned out to be rather productive after that. Shikamaru had Naruto doing some more chakra control exercises while he worked with Todoroki on trying to control the size of his flames, rather than attacks like his father was doing. A couple hours later, the boys shifted gears and Todoroki worked on his hand-to-hand combat while Naruto tried out some of the stances that he and Shikamaru had already brainstormed.

A few hours after that, the boys spared again to test out all of the things they had learned that day. The fight ended when Todoroki caught Naruto 'off-guard' and captured him in his ice.

Then, the trio headed inside for food and showers before heading to their respective rooms.

Currently, Naruto was cuddling with Shikamaru, his back to Shikamaru's chest as Shikamaru slouched against the wall behind Naruto's bed. Both were cooling down from an intense makeout session that they both had to stop before they got to carried away. Getting caught having sex wouldn't look the best for either of them, especially with everything that had happened earlier in the day.

Naruto cooled down by texting his fellow classmates to see how their internships were going. Kirishima seemed to have a lot of fun while Izuku didn't know what to think of the hero he was with. And Bakugou was just complaining in all caps inside a group chat between him, Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, and Ashido, so everything seemed normal with him.

Shikamaru elected to rest his head on Naruto's shoulder and read the messages between classmates, occasionally letting his eyes droop.

A knock at the door brought both of the boys eyes from the phone screen. "Naruto? It's me, Todoroki. May I come in?" A voice, which was quickly identified as Todoroki's said.

Sharing a brief look with Shikamaru, Naruto called out, "Yeah you're all good! Doors open!"

Immediately after he said this, the door opened and closed, and Todoroki was standing awkwardly in Naruto's doorway.

"Hello," He began. "I was hoping to talk with you and Shikamaru." Todoroki said, no emotion in his voice but Naruto could tell that the boy was embarrassed.

Tapping Shikamaru twice on the knee, both boys scooted back so they were sitting upright, and Naruto motioned for Todoroki to sit on the bed were new space was just created.

Taking the hint, Todoroki made his way over to the bed and sat down facing the two boys but didn't say anything. Instead, they looked at his lap and played with his hands, trying to figure out what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it.

"I know we said we wouldn't, but we will tell someone if you want us to." Shikamaru said, bringing Todoroki out of his thoughts and causing the boy to lift his head and look at the other two in the room. He looked surprised to see that it was Shikamaru who spoke instead of Naruto, but relaxed once he saw the small smiles, they were sending his way.

Biting his lip, Todoroki glanced down at his hands again before looking back at them. "I appreciate the offer, but I need him to get stronger as much as I hate to admit it. I do still refuse to go down the path he plans to create for me though, I will carve my own path." Todoroki said with a determined look in his eyes.

Shikamaru nodded along with Naruto upon hearing this statement. "Very mature of you Todoroki, but just remember that we are always here to help." Shikamaru told the duel-haired boy.

"I will and thank you for today. Please, let me know if you ever need help with anything in the future." Todoroki said, but remained seated on the bed and made no move to get up.

Before the boy had the chance to say anything, Naruto stood up and started talking. He had a feeling that his classmate wanted to talk to him in private. "Alright, well I'm afraid I need to kick you out Shikamaru. I need to talk to Todoroki in private and you were falling asleep before anyway."

Keeping a lazy expression on his face, Shikamaru shot his boyfriend a confused look in his eyes as he stood up. Sending his own message with his eyes that promised an explanation later, Shikamaru nodded at Naruto and made his way to the door, reminding the two boys to not stay up to late before shutting the door behind him.

A few seconds Naruto turned back to Todoroki, who was staring up at him from his spot on the bed. "So," Naruto began, "is there something more that you wanted to talk about? You've been sending me some looks for the past couple of days.

* * *

**A/N: And now the real chapter 17 is here! I'm so sorry about the delay for the chapter, I was having a very hard time writing the chapter. A special thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter and sent me all of their ideas! But what did y'all think of this chapter? What did you think about the dynamic around the four boys? What did you think about Naruto and Shikamaru talking to Endeavor? Do you think Todoroki suspects anything about the relationship between Naruto and Shikamaru? What do you think Naruto and Todoroki will talk about? And what do you think will happen during the Stain attack?**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_"Old man, what the fuck do you mean he's innocent?" Naruto asked the Third Hokage sitting at his desk, his voice already beginning to rise with anger._

_Sighing, the Hokage leaned back in his chair and brought his hand to the bridge of his nose, leaving it there for a minute before moving his hands to rest folded together on his desk. "Naruto, please do not make me explain it again. You may be angry with the situation, but you know why Itachi had to do what he did and the consequences of what would have happened if that didn't happen. Now, I need you to not tell anyone else about this. The only reason I am telling you is because the organization he is infiltration has a…fascination with people like you and according to him they are beginning to make some preparations before going after their first victim. Hopefully, we can stop them before they decide to go after you but it is better to be cautious." He explained to his grandson-like figure, trying his hardest to keep his voice calm and steady. _

_Naruto, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to rip his head off. He wanted to scream until his voice was raw. Why did it have to end up like that. He wanted to yell at the man in front of him and ask why someone else couldn't do it, but Naruto already knew the answer to that question. If someone else did it, it would have been questioned why such a powerful clan was murdered, not to mention it would have been extremely hard for someone who didn't have close ties like Itachi and the experience that Itachi had to pull something like that off. And of course when the public eventually found out why it happened, it would have been questioned why the two brothers were spared. _

_Still, Naruto was thinking more on emotions than logic at the moment and couldn't figure out if Sasuke being spared was a blessing or a curse. Yes, he was alive, but at what cost. He lost everything he knew and his entire world was taken by the one who claimed to be his older brother. On top of that, Sasuke was kept in the dark about everything, so that didn't help his mental state in the slightest. _

_For a brief moment, Naruto thought about what it would be like when Sasuke eventually found out the truth about what happened to his family. Ever since that day he had his sights set on killing his brother. So when he found out the truth, would that make him not want to kill his brother anymore? What if he found out after he killed his brother? Would be regret what he did then? Either way, it would fuck up the kids mental state even more once he found out about it. His entire reality would be proven wrong once again and it would reshape the way he sees the world, most likely for the worst._

* * *

_"So is there anything more you wanted to ask?_ Those were the words that currently ran through the youngest Todoroki's head as he sat on his classmates bed. _Yes._ That was the immediate answer that came to his mind. _Are you like me? Are you okay? You have offered to help me, if you are in the same situation, I should offer my help as well._ All of these things ran through Todoroki's mind but none came out of his mouth as he bit his lip and played with his fingers.

He was trying to word his question so it wouldn't offended or upset his classmate, but he couldn't think of a way to say it without sounding rude.

Feeling the bed dip down, Todoroki saw that Naruto had sat beside him, sitting against the wall. "I promise I won't get angry with you. Just tell me what's been on your mind." Those words sounded genuine, but Todoroki was not that close with his classmate. They had barely spoken before and after the sports festival, something that made him sad for a reason that he could not understand.

Finally being able to form words after a small pause, Todoroki mustered up some courage and said, "Scares…" Never before had he wanted the earth to just come and swallow him up. _Scares?_ Was that really the best he could come up with after he carefully formulated his response in his head?

His classmate, however, didn't seem bothered by what he asked and just asked, "What about them?"

Now knowing that Naruto would not shut him out about the subject, he asked, "How did you get them?"

"Well now isn't that a loaded question?" Naruto asked as he chuckled darkly to himself and heaved a sigh. "Do you remember when you first met Shikamaru and how we explained a little bit about our village?"

Nodding, Todoroki let his classmate know that yes, he did remember. He had spent hours searching for the place that they came from but found nothing. Shoto did not find this unusual because they did say they were very rural and barley had internet, but he still wanted to talk to his father about sending some of his sidekicks there. He wanted to help Naruto's country, and his father was always looking for somewhere to send his many sidekicks.

"Well, after graduating from the academy there I did find work right away, but this work was in the military. Partly because I wanted to help my village but also because no full-time job in the village would give me satisfaction while also paying my bills. I worked alongside Shikamaru, who was recruited to work for the military after our village found out that he had a natural knack for strategy. It's another reason why were still so close. The only reason I left was because Jiraiya-my godfather-offered to pay for my schooling out here so I could become a hero, which was a dream I had when I was a little kid. Shikamaru and I were always close and he wanted to support me, so he moved out here with me to become a hero tactic and once I graduated and got my own agency, he agreed to come work for me." Naruto explained. 

Sitting in shock for what felt like an. Eternity, Todoroki tried to process what his classmate had just told him. Military…at just twelve? For two years at that and he was still alive? While most people didn't like the military now, they still dealed with international affairs that heroes didn't and were needed. From what Todoroki gathered it was very bloody and the people who did make it out alive were never the same.

Taking a couple more minutes to formulate a response, he asked, "So the scares are from battles?"

"Yeah, battle and torture from when I would get captured from the enemy." Naruto responded, shrugging his shoulders as if this was the most normal thing in the world. But all his words did was shock his classmate even more. Scares littered his entire body and he had gotten all of them in only two years? He always thought people were exaggerating when it came to the military but now, he was beginning to think that they weren't telling the public enough if every solider had the same amount of scares as Naruto.

"Why would you stay?" He asked his classmate. He didn't mean for those words to come out of his mouth, but he had already said them before he was even able to process what he was saying. And seeing the confused look from his classmate, Todoroki figured he should just expand on what he was trying to say rather than bury the question down and have it constantly eat at him.

"Why would you stay in the military if it hurt you that much? What was the point?"

"I did tell you that my dream was always to be a hero. Since we didn't really have heroes where I came from, everyone saw the military as the heroes and it actually wasn't such an uncommon thing to join like it is here. It was the next best thing I could get to my dream. Besides, heroes get scares in fights too, right? That doesn't stop them from quitting their job though as soon as they get hurt, they just get stronger. Each one of these scares has helped me get stronger. I don't think I'll ever regret my decision or change it for the world. I loved what I did when I was in the military and I could really make a change where it counted for me."

Nodding along at what his classmate said, Todoroki stood and uttered a quiet but sincere "Thank you for your honesty." Before leaving the room. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

Naruto thought that the past two days hadn't been the most interesting, but they weren't boring per say. Today however, was possibly the most uninteresting day Naruto ever had to experience. The entire day had been spent in Endeavor's office as he had Naruto and Todoroki run around like errand boys dropping off paperwork, collecting paperwork, sending faxes, and much more that made Naruto want to rip his eyes from his sockets. Watching paint dry would be more interesting than what he was doing.

If the hokage had as much paperwork as this hero, Naruto was seriously starting to rethink his decision of becoming the next one. He would just become the next best thing, which was ANBU commander.

So at the end of the day, Naruto could barely focus on what Endeavor was saying as he tried to not bounce off the walls. This is why he wasn't suited for undercover missions. Naruto usually got all of his energy out on missions, or enough to where he could sit and do paperwork and other things without wanting to do everything but be still. It was also because of this that Naruto missed Shikamaru whispering something to Endeavor and then what the man said to them. He only came back to reality when Shikamaru lead him to his room and told him to change into his hero costume.

* * *

It didn't take long after everyone arrived in Hosu for it to go to shit. They had only been walking around on patrol for about two hours when Nomu's rained down out of nowhere. Almost immediately once they saw a building, they would start destroying it, causing buildings to collapse and set on fire. Throughout the chaos, Shikamaru and Naruto had been separated from the Todoroki's. Not that the boys minded, they just hoped that Endeavor wouldn't focus on showing off to his youngest throughout the entire ordeal.

Naruto also supposed that they should met up with them before any of them interacted with the Hero Killer. Todoroki wouldn't be able to take him on and Endeavor would need help fighting him as he had a very unique fighting style.

Granted, no one had ever caught him on camera. But, from the marks on his victims and the claims made from the pro-hero ingenium, police were able to roughly sketch out what his fighting style would look like. Naruto and Shikamaru also had their theories and they were both hoping to see if they were true or not.

The two shinobi, wanting to help but not wanting to bring to much attention to themselves, set themselves to evacuating citizens. They made sure to follow where they thought the bigger fights would be taking place as that's where they thought Endeavor would show up at some point.

To the shinobi's credit, they were not wrong. 15 minutes later they were met with the sight of Endeavor and a couple of other heroes battling a Nomu. Running over, Naruto and Shikamaru thought they could make themselves known to their boss and also ask where the younger Todoroki was, as they had yet to see him.

It turns out that they didn't even have to ask before the hero was already telling them where his son ran off to. "Naruto, I must request that you find my son and provide him backup. I don't know where he went and I must say I am worried about him and what villains he might encounter. He said something about a fellow classmate of his named…" Endeavor trailed off, grunting as he let more flames come out from his body and onto the Nomu that he was currently battling. "Some kid named Midoriya sending out his location and that's where he would be."

Whipping out his phone, Naruto saw that Izuku did indeed send out his location. Sharing a look with Shikamaru, the came to a mutual agreement and Naruto ran off in search of his two classmates. He had a very strong feeling that they were indeed fighting the Hero Killer.

* * *

"He's probably knocked out after all of that…right?" This is what Naruto heard as he hopped from various rooftops, following the directions on his phone to get to Izuku and Todoroki's location.

Once he hopped over his last rooftop, he saw from his spot on the roof that not only were Izuku and Todoroki there, but also Iida what appeared to be a pro hero but Naruto could not be sure of this.

Upon closer inspection of the scene, Naruto saw the Hero Killer Stain laying on a piece of ice in the air and appeared to be unconscious. He also noticed that no one had taken notice of his presence yet.

"Then, let's restrain him and get out to the street." This time, it was Todoroki who spoke up. It seemed that his classmates plus the one maybe pro hero all thought that Stain was unconscious. But Naruto move better as he saw the man ever so slightly reaching back for one of his blades, and he also felt the man's chakra presence indicating that he was injured, but indeed awake.

Seeing as no one else was picking up on this, Naruto quickly reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a scroll. Biting his thumb to get some blood, he unraveled the scroll and swiped his blood across it to reveal his own sword that was being kept inside the storage seal. Still trying to conceal his presence as much as possible, Naruto leaped off of the roof and onto where the Hero Killer was, weapon raised with the intent to stab the man.

But mid-air attacks were never Naruto's strong suit, and the Hero Killer was able to make a run for it and Naruto landed where he previously was, a chunk of ice falling down due to his sword going through it. Looking to his left, Naruto saw Stain now standing a couple feet away with another sword raised, his eyes focused completely on Naruto.

"Naruto?! What are you doing here?!" His confused cry came from Izuku, who was looking at Naruto like he was insane.

"Izuku, when you send out your location you need to expect people showing up to it, especially when it comes with no context. I couldn't help but assume the worst. Besides, Endeavor sent me as back up until some pro's can get here after dealing with the Nomu's." Naruto explained to his classmates as he kept his eyes locked on Stain, a silent battle going on between the two.

Taking up a battle stance, Iida was the next to speak. "Please, Naruto, Izuku and Todoroki are here because of mistakes that I have made and I must take care of them myself. I cannot allow you to bleed for me as these two have. Please, let me take on the Hero Killer and become a true hero!"

Snorting, Naruto didn't even try to hide his amusement with that statement. Normally, he would be more careful about how he approached these situations, but he was in ANBU mode right now and didn't have time to deal with it at the moment. "Honestly Iida, the fact that you think you can take him on alone, even with your injuries, is just so amusing to me. Izuku and Todoroki might have knocked your head out of the place you were before and ended your whole I-will-kill-the-hero-killer thing you had going on, but the three of you could barely handle him and he's still standing. So no, I will not move aside."

"Naruto please! This is something I must do! I cannot allow my friends to bleed on behalf of mistakes that I have made!" Iida cried out in what was becoming borderline desperation.

"Oh no, please do not tell me you little fakes in training are friends with the little blonde up there." Stain said, speaking for the first time since Naruto arrived. As he said these words, his eyes moved from Naruto's to study his three classmates, effectively ending their silent battle.

"Of course we're friends with him. He is our classmate and has helped us all out in one way or another." This statement came from Todoroki, who was glaring at the man standing across from him.

Snorting, Stain said, "Do you know what he has done? Because I do, and I can promise none of you will like it." His eyes than moved ever so slowly to Naruto's, almost in a teasing matter. "I can recognize the look of a killer when I see one."

This statement seemed to shock his classmates, as well as the pro hero as they all stared at him with wide eyes, waiting for him to deny the claim.

But, instead of denying the claim, Naruto hopped down from the piece of ice he was crouching on and stood on the ground. He then threw his blade over his shoulder and calmly walked over to the Hero Killer, stopping a few feet in front of the man.

"You know, that's a very interesting technique you have there, _Stain._ I haven't seen anything like that used really anywhere else here. I can't help but wonder where you learned that fighting style." Naruto said, mocking the man.

The Hero Killer in question seemed shaken up by this comment, but quickly regained his air of confidence back. But, before he could say anything to counter Naruto's statement, he began speaking again.

"You know, where I come from, we had a place called _Kirigakure_. Now, this place wasn't anything too special, but it was known for producing the seven best swordsmen from where I come from. But there were always rumors floating around that there were originally eight members, but one left the group. The others refused to say anything on the matter, but it was often said that he left a _Stain_ in that little group." Taking a moment to pause for emphasis, Naruto enjoyed the look of petrification that was making its way onto the other man's face before continuing once again.

"You know, _Akaguro Chizome,_ you have gotten too comfortable here. You aren't half as good at concealing your presence as everyone claimed you were." And with that said, Naruto raised his blade and swung at the other man before he had the chance to get over his shock.

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**A/N: And that's another chapter done! I know this one is really short compared to the others; I promise the next one will be longer. I just wanted to give you guys another chapter this week to make up for the delay of chapter 17. But what do y'all think of this chapter? I know I left you on a cliffhanger, but I have been told to make the story more suspenseful lol. What do you think will happen with Naruto and the others now that it has been hinted to them that Naruto may have killed people in the past? And how do you think the fight between Stain and Naruto will turn out?**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_"So, he'll be arriving while I'm away at the internship?" Naruto asked Haru._

_"From what Jiraiya told me, yes." He told the blonde sitting across from him. _

_"Will I be able to see him before his mission officially begins?" He asked, desperation beginning to seep into his voice. _

_"I don't know Naruto, it depends on the speed of things, but I do think you will be able to." Haru told him, which brought a small but genuine smile to the blondes face._

* * *

For a man that hadn't been battling fellow shinobi in a while, Naruto did have to give him credit. While it seemed that he didn't keep up with his chakra exercises as much, he definitely wasn't rusty with his kenjutsu. Although the more Naruto thought about it, the more it made sense as that is what he used to take down "fake" heroes.

Naruto's first attack did take the man by surprise, and Naruto was able to get the man's shoulder pretty deeply before he moved out of the way and held up his own blades. But it was very obvious to Naruto that his one hand was out of commission as he was shaking as he held his one blade, the other still and steady.

Locking eyes with each other, it seemed to Naruto that neither wanted their true identity revealed to their onlookers. They silently came to the agreement that they would stick strictly to kenjutsu.

Once both came to this agreement, Stain wasted no time taking out two kunai and throwing them at Naruto, who was able to dodge them and ran towards Stain, hoping to engage in more close-range combat.

Despite not being able to use chakra, Naruto was able to make it over there fairly quickly and swung at the man's legs but was blocked by his blade. Stain than tried to use his other hand to slash at Naruto's stomach, but this was stopped by Naruto's other bald as he used the one by Stain's legs to nick his arm before cutting him deeply in the stomach.

Jumping back and hissing at his new injuries, Stain threw another four kunai at Naruto, who was able to dodge all but one that embedded itself in his leg.

"Naruto!" Yelled Midoriya. Up until now, the cries of his classmates had fallen on deaf ears as Naruto focused on his fight with Stain, but the kunai in his leg reminded him that he needed to pay attention to all of his surroundings and not just the man in front of him.

"Leave at kunai in! Don't take it out! His quirk allows him to paralyze you as soon as he licks your blood!" Midoriya continued from where he sat on the floor, his adrenaline rush beginning to wear off as he was no longer the one fighting, the pain in his legs becoming more real to him and preventing him from standing.

"Oh?" Naruto said, mildly interested as he quickly glanced back at his classmate with his eyebrows raised before looking at the Hero Killer. "My, my, what an interesting kekki genkai you have there. You know, I used to hear stories about a clan that had a power like that, but to my knowledge, that clan was whipped out years ago. What was it called again? Ah, yes, blood curdle?" Naruto asked, smirking once again at the man across from him. All the said man did was glare at the blonde, which made him smirk wider and continue talking.

"You know, the rumors of the eight member were always thought to be true. It is said that when picking the seven swordsman, they couldn't figure out who to make the seventh and were stuck between two, so they decided to add an eight member. But, not to long after the group was formed, tensions arrived between the eighth member and everyone else. I heard that the eighth member constantly went off on his own missions and his morals didn't align with the others, so he quickly left the group. Some said that he left the area, but most didn't think this was true as he was never heard from again and didn't seem like the type to just sit quietly. Others thought that he was killed by the other members. Personally, I always thought the latter was true. But, if he did flea to another country, well, that would certainly change things now wouldn't it?"

Growling at the blonde, the man rushed towards him and sloppily tried to attack him with all of his injuries preventing him from moving the way he wanted and his anger clouding his judgement. Naruto, however, not done toying with the man quickly fell into a routine of dodging the blade with his body or blocking with his own blades.

"You know, I did met one of the seven swordsman once. Maybe you'll remember him? He did give me some very useful tips after all. His name was Zabuza Momochi." At this, Naruto was interrupted by a particularly large growl that was emitted from the man, letting him know that Stain and Zabuza definitely did not see eye to eye.

"Oh, did you two not get along? Well he did give me some great tips on where to best hit people on their body. Did you know that if you hit the right artery in a person's neck they quickly bleed out? Of course, they will fall unconscious a couple seconds later and die within a few minutes. But if they are healed quick enough than they should be fine."

"That's only if I let you get me there!" Stain yelled as he raised his blade with his good arm, his other hanging limply at his side as it had reached it limit and couldn't be moved at the speed, he needed it to at the moment. Taking his own blade, Naruto blocked the one coming down to him and used his other to lightly nick the Hero Killers neck.

"You already have." Naruto whispered in his ear before taking a couple steps back. Stain, upon realizing that he had been cut, brought a hand up to his neck in an attempt to keep his blood from spilling. But blood poured out from in-between the man's fingertips and within a few seconds he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

"Naruto? What did you just do?" Asked Todoroki, wasting no time after the Hero Killer fell to question his classmate.

"I took him down, obviously." Naruto said in a relaxed tone as he turned to face his classmates, who all had looks of horror written onto their faces. Laughing awkwardly, Naruto brought a hand up to the back of his neck and tried to reassure his classmates. "Relax guys, he won't die, he's just unconscious right now."

"Naruto! Are you aware that an ambulance will not be here in time to treat him! I cannot believe you would hit someone in such a vital spot!" This came from Iida, who went back into class rep mode as his hands did their classic robot motions.

"Who said we needed an ambulance?" Naruto asked, smirking at his classmates.

"Just so you know, this is becoming troublesome. I will not be doing this every time you injure someone just to get the fight over with quicker." Shikamaru said, as he kneeled down beside the Hero Killer, his hands encasing themselves in a green glow as he began to heal the villain on the floor.

"Shikamaru?! What are you doing here?" Iida asked. "You are a mere civilian and not even in training! I must ask you to follow the polices instructions and please evacuate the area!" He continued.

"Relax Iida-san, I'm allowed to be here." Shikamaru said lazily as he stood up and walked over to stand next to Naruto.

"Iida, Izuku, good to see you both again. Todoroki, I'm glad you're okay." Shikamaru said as he nodded to each student.

"Naruto…I must ask, how did you know Shikamaru was over here? Or did you not know and go out on a limb?" Todoroki asked, determined to get some answers from his classmate.

"No, I knew he was there, I saw him standing behind the wall when I was fighting Stain." Naruto answered.

"But…how did you know that he would be able to heal Stain?" Izuku asked.

"He used to do it all the time when we would go on missions together." Naruto answered. He was about to tell everyone that they should tie the Hero Killer up but was interrupted by a boot meeting Midoriya in the face.

"G-Gran Torino?! What are you doing here?!" He asked.

"I was sent over with the lazy kid over there." The now dubbed Gran Torino answered as he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to Shikamaru. "But is that the Hero Killer I see over there unconscious? And why are you over here? I told you to stay on the bullet train!" The man yelled in Izuku's face.

"Ah s-sorry about that." Izuku answered as he laughed awkwardly.

"As much as I hate to interrupt this moment, we should probably restrain the Hero Killer and take his weapons before finding the police to take him, as well as an ambulance for Midoriya and Iida. I don't know when he will wake up, and those two have injuries that need to be treated in a hospital." Shikamaru told everyone, who simply nodded. Todoroki and Izuku went about collecting the weapons, while Naruto and Shikamaru tried to find something to restrain Stain with. Iida and Gran Torino went to help the pro hero that was still paralyzed on the ground.

"Oh by the way, Midoriya," Todoroki said, as the group made their way out of the ally way and to a spot where they could call the police and easily be spotted. "How do you know that man?" He asked, as he pointed a finger at Gran Torino.

"Oh, he's the hero I'm interning with, Gran Torino."

Before anything else could be said, they all heard a voice call "It should be around here!" accompanied by the stomping of feet. Turing their heads, everyone saw a group of pro heroes making their way to them.

"Endeavor told us there was a request for help here, but…" One said once the group stopped in front of them. His face reminded Naruto of a sock for some reason, and he had to prevent himself from laughing once that thought came to his head.

"Children?" Another asked, his helmet reminding Naruto of Iron Man, who was a fictional hero before quirks came around, but still talked about.

"Those injuries look serious! I'll call an ambulance right away!" Another pro said, this one had a pair of goggles resting on his forehead.

"Huh? Don't tell me…it's the hero killer?" The only female in the group asked, shocked to see the villain being pulled around by a high schooler.

"What?" One of the pros asked, also bringing his eyes to the rope Todoroki was holding and the body attached to it.

"I'll call the police too!" The pro that was about to call an ambulance offered. Before walking a couple steps away and brining his phone to his ear.

Another pro stepped up to ask everyone about their injuries. Midoriya explained that his arm might be broken and his legs took some damage as well. Todoroki said that he just had some minor injuries and that Iida was hit the worst out of all of them. Naruto was about to agree with his classmate when the pro asked, "Is that a kunai sticking out of your leg?!"

Looking down, Naruto saw that yes, there was a kunai sticking out of his leg. Naruto originally left it in there so the Hero Killer could not get some of his blood and paralyze him but had forgotten about it once the fight was over. If he was being honest, it barely hurt. And this became apparent to everyone else when he muttered a simple "Oh, I guess it is yeah." And shrugged while continuing to stand.

The pro immediately began to fret over him and told him to not take it out or else he would bleed out and began to search for a bench or other surface to sit on. Naruto merely locked eyes with Shikamaru, who was standing by the pro that was calling an ambulance and rolled his eyes. He hated being babied.

His boyfriend, however, offered no help to get him out of the situation as he sent him a teasing look and turned his attention back to the pro on the phone.

It wasn't long after this that Gran Torino screamed "Get down!" as an injured Nomu with wings came and took Izuku before flying away.

"There's blood, did he escape after being beaten?" The female pro asked out loud. It seemed that everyone was trying to figure out what to do but no one could come up with any ideas as Izuku and the Nomu got farther and farther away. Naruto was going to step in and save his classmate but felt the chakra of Stain come back to life, indicating that the man was no linger unconscious. Glancing back at the man, he saw him lick the blood of the Nomu off of the female pros cheek before using a knife that Izuku and Todoroki failed to take to escape from his bindings.

Honestly interested in what he was planning to do, Naruto stood back as he watched the Nomu fall down and the Hero Killer run towards him, using chakra to get to his destination faster.

"This society is overgrown with fake heroes and the criminals who wave their power around idly…" He announced as he jumped and grabbed Izuku from the Nomu that was still in the air and then stab the Nomu in his head with his knife while holding Izuku away. "…should all be purged." He continued once the Nomu was, indeed, dead.

"This is all to create a more just society." He said as he pulled his knife out of the Nomu's head.

This whole situation caused the pro heroes to scramble for what to do. Most where in shock about what happened and didn't know how to react. They were scared to fight the hero killer and didn't know if he was saving Izuku or trying to take him as a hostage.

_"The kid is pure like All Might and is not one of the fakes plaguing this society. I will allow him to live because it would be against my way as a ninja to let him die by the hands of anyone."_ Stain said, confusing everyone because they did not speak the language he spoke and did not understand what he was saying. Naruto and Shikamaru, on the other hand heard what he said loud and clear and simply nodded to the man as a sign of respect and thanks for saving their comrade.

It was then that Endeavor ran towards the scene and locked eyes with Stain, which immediately set him off. He threw Izuku over to the heroes as he slowly made his way over to the number two hero, going on yet another rant. And of things continued at this pace, Naruto would start to believe that all villains just loved to hear the sound of their own voice.

"You fake, I must make things right…" He said as he slowly began to wake towards the pro, releasing enormous amounts of K.I. as he did, paralyzing everyone with fear. Excluding Naruto and Shikamaru, who had been trained to move through this, but acted like they could not move for the sake of appearances.

"Someone must be dyed in blood! I must take back what it means to be a hero!" He continued. Naruto was about to blow his cover completely to take down the man, but Shikamaru quickly shot him a look that told him he didn't need to be the one to take him down. Naruto sent him a look of confusion but knew that Shikamaru wouldn't tell him to stop if he wasn't sure that everyone would make it out alive. So, he remained where he was.

"Come! Try and get me, you fakes! The only one I'll let kill me is the true hero…All Might!" He finished as he let out even more K.I. if it continued at this rate, Naruto was beginning to fear that someone may pass out from it.

Not even a second after this worry crossed his mind, the K.I. immediately stopped, and Naruto saw that Stain had passed out once again, this time while standing.

It was later when everyone was being put onto an ambulance that Shikamaru was able to explain to Naruto was happened, discreetly using the ANBU hand signals that they had been taught. He explained to his boyfriend that when he was healing his neck, he also looked over the rest of his body to make sure nothing else would kill him, which is when he noticed the broken ribs. After seeing the moves he pulled to save Izuku and the adrenaline he was running off of, Shikamaru concluded that he was not paying attention to his body and all they had to do was wait for the rib to move into the right place, which was inevitable due to his movements.

* * *

"Were you able to sleep, Midoriya?" These were the words that began to pull Naruto unwillingly from his sleep. Despite his classmates being able to fall asleep almost immediately after the hospital staff left them alone, Naruto was up into the early hours of the morning just waiting for sleep to claim him. Not only was he not looking forward to the inevitable conversation with his classmates today, he also couldn't help but wonder how many other missing nin were here in Japan. Of course, they has always suspected that Stain was from the Elemental Countries, but now that it was confirmed that fact was hitting Naruto in the face. Did all of their 'villains' flee to this part of the world? And if so, how many had made it here and where were they now? Would they be able to catch them?

It was these thoughts that kept Naruto up all night, so he wanted nothing more than to tell his classmates to shut the fuck up and let him sleep. That, however, was not going to happen. Naruto knew that once he was awake, he was awake and wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. So, he simply opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling in hopes that listening to the others in the room would help him wake up some more.

"No, not really." Izuku responded, sighing as he did so.

"I didn't think so." Todoroki bluntly told his classmate. "I didn't sleep either." He continued, in what Naruto believed to be his way of comfort.

"I don't think Naruto got any sleep, considering how he's still sleep." Izuku pointed out to the others in the room. "Should we wake him up?" He asked them.

"No need." Naruto said, letting everyone in the room know that he was awake as he sat up. "I'm up."

"Oh, Naruto, did you at least sleep well?" Todoroki asked.

"No, I probably only got three hours, but it will have to last me through the day." Naruto told everyone.

The four boys feel into a comforting silence before Izuku spoke up. "Thinking about it now, we did something amazing, huh?" He asked them.

"Yeah." Todoroki agreed.

"Seeing an ending like that really makes you feel like it's a miracle we're alive. With my leg like this, he probably could've killed us if he wanted to." Izuku continued.

"Yeah. We were obviously left alive on purpose. You're amazing to have been able to face him after all the murderous intent directed at you." Todoroki said, the latter part of his statement directed at Iida as he looked over at the class rep.

"No, that's not it. I…just couldn't see anything through my anger, so it didn't effect me." He told his classmates.

"But…it is thrilling is it not?" Naruto asked his classmates.

"What do you mean Naruto?" Asked Izuku, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"I fail to see what is so thrilling about our experience." Todoroki said, his eyebrows drawn together as he tried to figure out what his classmate meant.

"Not knowing if you're going to live. The thrill of being in a battle and not knowing if you or your enemy will be the one to die. Being on deaths doorstep and evading it at the last second…it's that feeling that keeps me alive. The adrenaline rushes are something else in those moments. It's moments like that that make me miss my village, my home. It's that feeling that pushes me to become a hero so I can come closer to feeling something like that again." Naruto explained to his classmates, eyes closed as he tilted his head up towards the ceiling and took a deep breath in through his nose, as if he could smell the feeling and was recalling upon what he felt last night.

Before anyone could respond to what their classmate said, the door to their room opened up. "Oh, are you wounded kids awake?" Asked Gran Torino, as he, Manual, and Shikamaru all stepped into the room.

"Kid, I've got a lot of complaints for you." Gran Torino told Izuku, who immediately became flustered by the statement.

"Oh! S-Sorr-" Izuku began, before he was interrupted by Gran Torino once again.

"But before that, you've got a visitor." He said, to the confusion of all of the students in the room.

Whoever was standing outside took this as their cue, as a man wearing a suit with a dogs face stepped into the room.

"This is Hosu's chief of police, Tsuragamae Kenji." Gran Torino told everyone.

Hearing this, everyone began to stand up out of a sign of respect to their elder. Well, everyone aside from Naruto, who stayed sitting in his bed. People earned his respect, age meant nothing to him, or really anyone other shinobi.

"Oh, you can stay seated, woof." The chief of police said. _'I will stay seated, but really, woof? Does he do that on purpose or is it some sort of reflex because of his quirk?'_ Naruto thought to himself.

"You must be the U.A. students who brought down the Hero Killer, right?" He asked the students in the room. _'No,' Naruto sarcastically thought to himself. 'We are just four U.A. students who all happened to get injured at the same time and put in the same hospital despite only one of us interning in Hosu.'_

"Yes." Todoroki answered the dog-man.

"regarding the Hero Killer we arrested…he had fairly serious injuries with burns and broken bones, and is receiving treatment under strict guard, woof." The man started. _'Do. Not. Laugh.'_ Naruto thought, trying so hard to maintain his emotionless mask as he listened to the man speak.

"Since you are U.A. students, I'm sure you already know that when superpowers were still becoming the norm, the police attached high importance to leadership and standards and made sure quirks were not used as weapons. And then, the profession of 'hero' emerged to fill that gap, woof." He continued. _'Seriously if he doesn't stop saying woof, I will burst out laughing. This is like you saying yip after every sentence Kurama.'_

_'I swear to god kit, this is important. Stop focusing on the woof and listen to what the dog is saying.' _Kurama told Naruto.

_'You just called him a dog!'_ Naruto pointed out in exasperation.

_'Because he has the face of one. Now shut up and listen.' _Kurama said, ending the conversation.

"For an individual's use of force and power that can easily kill others-actions that normally would be appropriate to denounce-to be accepted officially, is thanks to early heroes who followed the ethics and riles of the profession, woof. Even up against the Hero Killer, for uncertified individuals to cause injury with their quirks without specific instruction from their guardians or supervisors is a clear violation of these rules. The three of you, and the pro heroes Endeavor, Manual, and Gran Torino must receive strict punishment." Well that explained why Shikamaru was there, he was probably here on behalf of Endeavor.

"Wait a minute." Surprisingly, it was Todoroki who spoke up, and with a flame in his eyes. "If Iida hadn't done anything, Native would've been killed. If Midoriya hadn't come, the two of them would've been killed." Todoroki's angry rant was interrupted by Iida's soft spoken, "Todoroki…" But it fell on deaf ears.

"No one realized that the Hero Killer had appeared. Are you saying we should've followed the rules and watched people get killed?" Todoroki asked as he began to walk towards the chief of police in anger.

"W-W-Wait!" Izuku said, hands out in front of him to try in calm his classmate down, but his attempts were in vain.

Naruto on the other hand, made no move to stop his classmate as he was speaking what they were all feeling. While normally socially awkward and not knowing how to pick up on social ques, he really just said 'fuck the system' to the Hosu chief of police. A true Gen Z kid if Naruto ever saw one.

"Are you saying that as long as it turns out all right, it's okay to bend the rules?" The dog man asked, a dangerous tone to his voice. Seeing as this just made his classmate angrier, Naruto decided to speak up.

"Not always, it definitely should be something looked at case-by-case. But, in this instance, yes, I think that it was okay to bend the rules. What you are essentially asking us to do is ignore a dying pro hero and an injured classmate just so the rules are followed. And if we hadn't stopped the hero killer that night, what would've happened? How many more would he have killed because he wasn't stopped. It's not like we could contact any pro heroes, they were all occupied with the Nomu's, and it's not like they could leave doing that to take down the Hero Killer, leaving behind innocent civilians and havoc-causing villains behind. How much worse would the situation be if we hadn't been there to stop him? And how much worse would media coverage be if they found out students let a hero die just because laws prevented them from using their quirk? I also think the police force is being hypocritical in this situation. You team up with vigilantes all the time to take down villains, right? And in exchange for information you let the vigilante walk away right? Is that not bending the rules right there?" Naruto asked the chief of police, an equally frustrated and threatening tone in his voice.

"Besides, isn't it a hero's job to save people?" Todoroki asked.

"That is why you are not a full-fledged hero yet." The dog-man told them. "Goodness, what are you being taught by U.A. and Endeavor, woof?"

"You dog!" Todoroki growled as he continued his walk up to the chief of police.

"Stop it. He is absolutely right." Iida told him.

"Hang on a minute. Hear him out until the end." Gran Torino said, preventing Todoroki from walking any closer to the chief of police.

"That was the official opinion of the police. And the punishment and such would only happen if this were all made public, woof. If this were made public, you would probably be applauded by the public, but you would not be able to escape punishment. On the other hand, this is a bit underhanded, but if it is not made public, the hero killer's burn scars would support Endeavor being the hero who saved the day, and it would end there, woof. Thankfully, there were very few witnesses. This violation could be crushed here, woof. But this would also mean no one would know about your good judgement or achievements. Which do you prefer?" The chief of police asked them.

The four boys shared a look, and they all quickly came to the same agreement.

"Personally, I don't want to be the one to find fault with promising young ones because of one mistake, woof." The dog-man continued, sticking out his tongue and giving everyone a thumbs up.

"Either way, we will need to take responsibility for being negligent in out supervisory duties." Manual said as Iida walked up to him and bowed.

"I am truly sorry." He told the pro.

Said pro lightly chopped him on the head. "All right. You'll cause trouble for others! If you understand, then don't do it again!" He reprimanded.

"I-I'm sorry." Izuku was the next to speak up and apologize for his actions, also bowing to the others in the room

"Please take care of it." Todoroki muttered, doing the same as the previous two and bowing as well.

All eyes than turned to Naruto, who was still sitting on his bed and was the only one who hadn't spoken up about the situation yet.

"Don't expect an 'I'm sorry' from me because it won't happen. If I could go back in time, I would do the same thing every time. However, taking responsibility for what happened would be troublesome for Shikamaru, and I don't want to listen to him complain every day, so please, do what you need to do to make sure that doesn't happen." Naruto told the chief of police.

Sighing, Shikamaru spoke up for the first time since he entered the room. "How did I know you were going to say that?" He asked as he lightly chuckled and shook his head from side to side.

"You're not even going to scold him a little bit?" Manual asked, unimpressed with the way Shikamaru was handling the situation.

"No, if there's one thing I know about Naruto it is that he is one of the most stubborn people you will ever meet when it comes to morals and beliefs. No amount of convincing could ever make him say sorry. As for Todoroki, he was merely sharing the opinion that he is entitled to, I see no reason to punish that. As for their actions last night, it is up to Endeavor to decided what to do to them." Shikamaru explained to the pro hero. Once the pro hero nodded to him in understanding, the police chief spoke up once again.

"Because of the unfairness of adults, you will not be able to receive the praise you would probably have gotten, but at least, as someone who also protects the peace, I can say thank you." The chief said as he bowed to the four students.

"Please start with that next time." Todoroki bashfully said as he looked to the side of the room.

* * *

"The three villains arrested and restrained during Hosu City's riots are all men with unknown addresses and identities. Based on their distinctive appearance and the presence of two people NHA TV filmed by chance, there are those saying they are connected to the League of Villains that attacked U.A. high school last month." The male news anchor said, before the female sitting beside him began to speak up.

"The Hero Killer, Stain, has killed more people on his own since the appearance of All Might than any other individual criminal. With his arrest, everyone around Japan can rest a little easier. He is currently receiving medical treatment at a hospital and is under police guard. The police are waiting for the recovery of the victims to investigate further into the motive behind the crime. This villain will certainly leave his mark in the history of crim Japan, or rather the world. Why did he keep committing crimes? What is he after? Hopefully, we will have these answers soon."

Sasuke got up from the booth he was eating at, threw the money he owed on the table, and walked out of the restaurant. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and began walking down the busy streets as he smirked to himself. It was almost time for him to begin making serious leaps with his mission.

* * *

"Oh, Iida, just now, Uraraka said…" Izuku began, but trailed off once he noticed the somber air in the room.

"Midoriya." Todoroki began. "Iida just finished getting examined." He continued, trailing off to let his classmate finish the explanation.

"My left hand might have long-term damage." Iida said, not meeting Izuku in the eye.

"Long-term…damage…?!" Izuku asked, not believing what he heard.

"Both of my arms were pretty beat up, but it looks like the damage to my left arm was especially severe. There was damage to my brachial plexus. But it just means that I'll have trouble moving my hand and fingers and experience some numbness. Apparently, there's a possibility that it can be healed with nerve transplant surgery. When I found the Hero Killer, I stopped being able to think. The first thing I should've sone was tell Manual. But I forgot myself in my anger. I hate him, but he spoke the truth. That's why, until I become a true hero, I think I want to leave my left hand as it is." Iida explained, shocking everyone in the room.

"If this is something you feel the need to do Iida than please, feel free to do so." Naruto said as he looked at his classmate. "But please, promise me one thing?" He asked, and upon seeing the class rep nod, he continued. "Get the surgery before you become a pro. That won't happen until three years, so you do have time to figure out the kind of hero you want to be. But I do feel this is something that needs to be fixed before you become a pro. On missions, the nerve damage in your hand could be fatal to both you and others, so it is better to get it fixed before you end up in a situation like that." Naruto told him.

"Of course I will, Naruto." Iida told him as he nodded in gratitude.

"Iida, I feel the same way." Izuku spoke. "Let's become stronger….together." He said, holding his fist out to Iida.

"I feel kind of bad." Todoroki spoke up, ruining the moment between the two classmates.

"About what?" Izuku asked.

"I feel like if I get involved…other people mess up their hands…" He explained as he starred at his own hands.

"But Todoroki…you didn't mess up my hands." Naruto spoke up before things could get out of control with his classmate.

"But I did burn your hand the other day when we were sparing." He explained, looking at Naruto as if to ask how he could have forgotten about that.

"But it already healed. See?" Naruto said, smiling at his classmate and bringing his hands up to show no scaring or burn marks.

"Nonetheless your hands were still hurt…is it a curse?" He asked as soon as the other three boys heard this, they all burst out laughing.

"Todoroki, I didn't know you could make jokes!" Izuku exclaimed.

"No. I'm not joking. I'm like 'The Hand Crusher' or something." He tried to explain to his classmates, but this just made them laugh harder.

"'The Hand Crusher'!" The other three boys yelled in unison as they continued to laugh at the duel-haired boy.

It didn't take long after the three boys had calmed down from laughing for the mood to turn somber again. "Naruto…I think you owe us an explanation for everything that happened yesterday with Stain." Iida said.

"Oh Kami, the amount of times I have to explain this to my classmates is unbelievable." Naruto muttered to his himself before he turned to his three classmates and sighed. But before he could begin his explanation, Todoroki spoke up for him.

"Naruto used to be in the military at his village." Todoroki bluntly told his classmates.

"What?!" The other two boys cried out in shock.

"That isn't exactly the way to tell someone that Todoroki." Naruto told the duel-haired boy, with a small genuine smile on his face showing that he was amused by what just happened.

"Oh, sorry, I was trying to tell it to them so you didn't have to." He tried to explain.

"It's perfectly fine, Todoroki. Anyway, remember when I told you I didn't go to high school because I had to support myself?" Naruto asked his classmates. Once he got nods from them, he continued his explanation. "Well, the one job that I wanted and that would help me support myself was to join the military, so that's exactly what I did. Remember where I come from doesn't really have any heroes, so joining the military isn't that uncommon and we are often praise for our service to our village. I was in it for two years before Jiraiya found me and brought me over here to live out my childhood dream of becoming a hero. Shikamaru came not long after because he said he would always support me-no matter where I was or what I was doing." Naruto explained to his classmates.

"Now, before you begin asking questions," He said, cutting Izuku off who had his mouth open in preparation to ask a question. "let me explain everything that happened with Stain. Now, Obviously the country that I lived in had multiple villages. I came from what was known as the Leaf village and served my village. Stain came from what is known as the Mist village. They are known for having what is known as the seven swordsmen. They are a group apart of Mist's military and they are the seven best swordsmen that the village has to offer. Sometimes they travel together to go on missions while other times they are sent on individual missions, it just depends on what the village needs and what the mission is. They are an infamous group throughout the country and are replaced with each new generation. So yes, everyone from my country has heard the rumors of Stain. And no, I don't know exactly what he did to get kicked out, but I'm sure you have an idea seeing what he has done here." It was here that Naruto paused to collect his thoughts once more before continuing with his explanation.

"I did meet one of the seven for a short period of time, his name was Zabuza. My team and he, along with his apprentice, teamed up for a short period of time to defeat a common enemy. So yes, being in the military is more dangerous than being in the military here. I do not come from a peaceful place. I come from a place where children know violence and war from a young age. So to answer the question I know you are all going to ask, yes, I did kill in my time with the military. Do I regret killing for my village? No, I don't. Every kill that I made meant that another innocent person got to live to see the next day. Do the kills I made haunt me? Of course, but I would never spare a life I took. When I took a life, I always made sure that the person deserved it. And even then, I preferred to capture and let the person due time over killing them. But there are some people who are slippy and get out of prison and go back to hurting innocent people for their own gain. These are the kinds of people that I would kill. And no, I do not know if the school knows about this. Being in the military should be on my record, so I'm sure they can put two and two together, but I can't know for sure." Naruto said, finishing up his explanation and opening up the floor for his classmates to ask questions.

"D-does anyone else know about this?" Izuku asked.

"Aside from you guys and my family? Ochako, Ashido, Asui, Shoji, and Sero know. I said something to them during the USJ and they asked me about it, which is when I explained my past to them." Naruto told them.

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Iida asked next, after taking a moment to process all of the information.

"Do you go around telling anyone your entire past? Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with anyone knowing because I don't regret what I did, but it is something that is kind of hard to bring up in casual conversation, and I don't feel close enough with the entire class to sit them all down and have a serious conversation with them. With that being said, can you not tell anyone else about this? I would rather they find out from me than from rumors. If you want to talk to the others that know about this than that's fine, but please do not tell anyone that doesn't already know." Naruto requested.

"Of course Naruto." Todoroki told him, nodding in his direction to let him know that he had his back.

Nodding back to Todoroki in thanks, Naruto stood up and his way to the door. "I can tell you all need a minute a process all of this, so I'll be out somewhere in the hospital. Someone come get me when you all are ready for me to be in here again. And if you wish to cut ties and not be my friend anymore, I will completely understand." Naruto said before walking out the door and closing it behind him.

* * *

As per the request of Shikamaru, Sasuke was currently at his and Naruto's apartment. He barely had time to open the door before he was being dragged into the kitchen and shoved into a kitchen chair. Before he had the chance to ask any questions, Shikamaru left the room and returned not a moment later with a laptop. Wasting not time, Shikamaru sat across from him and opened his laptop, pressing play on a video and then turning his laptop so Sasuke could see it.

The video was nothing special, just something else about the Hero Killer, but this one had his true identity attached to it, as well as his backstory. The Hero Killer was temporarily enrolled in a high school to become a hero before coming appalled by what the school taught. He apparently preached in the streets like church pastors did trying to call upon heroes that were from when the profession first started to become a thing. No one listened to him, so he thought he would show the world through actions rather than words and then being to train himself to kill the 'fakes'.

_'As if he didn't already know how to kill.'_ Sasuke thought to himself. There was also apart from the video that showed the Hero Killer from the night he had been arrested. It was of him saying that All Might was the only 'true' hero and the only one that he would allow to kill him, and then the video ended.

"I know this video doesn't seem like anything special with all the talk about Stain currently, but it has already been taken down and put back online multiple times. It is the first source that came out and told everyone Stain's true identity, as well as his past and gave an explanation for his crimes." Shikamaru told Sasuke.

"He may not have a way with words like Naruto does," He continued. "But his actions and pure belief in his cause at the very end have spoken to a lot of people, and many are beginning to agree with Stain. And everyone is starting to make the connection between the Hero Killer and the League of Villains. I do trust you know what this means?"

"Yeah, it means my time here is finally being put to good use." Sasuke said, smirking as he leaned back in his chair. He would definitely have an interesting next couple of days.

* * *

**A/N: And here is another chapter for you guys! As promised, this chapter is longer than the previous two, this is actually the longest chapter I have written so far lol. And it's also the third I've released this week, so go me! How did everyone like this chapter? What did you think about Stain being a shinobi and his fight with Naruto? That was my first time writing a battle scene with nothing to go off of, considering that in the anime he does indeed pass out on the ice, so I hope it wasn't too bad. What did you guys think about the conversation between Naruto, Iida, Todoroki, and Izuku? What about the various statements that Naruto made throughout the chapter. I do understand that Naruto is a bit OOC in this chapter but do let me know if you think I am going overboard with that. But also keep in mind that Naruto has a different backstory in this fic, and that Naruto did slip into ANBU mode during this chapter. Being put on such high alert like that and having a personality change is something that will take him time to get out of, so what everyone saw in this chapter was a darker side to Naruto. I promise that the loveable knucklehead is not completely gone. And Sasuke finally made an appearance in this chapter! Are you guys excited for Sasuke to be here, as well as more to be written about the LoV? Let me know!**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_"I'm home!" Naruto announced as soon as he came back from his internship and thank Kami that he was home. He wasn't sure how much more of the Endeavor agency he could take, and now realized why Shikamaru was so tired every day after work. It wasn't because his boyfriend was lazy by nature, it was because that place just drained your lifeforce a little more each time you went. _

_Half-leaning on said boyfriend, Naruto unceremoniously dropped his stuff next to the door and kicked his shoes off before leading his boyfriend to the couch, were they could hopefully cuddle and take a nap because Kami did, he need some sleep after the week that he had. _

_Unfortunately for Naruto, his plans were interrupted before he could even sit on the couch, by the presence of a certain black-haired former teammate that was seated right where he wanted to lay down. _

_"Well fuck me over, I didn't think that anyone was telling me the truth when they told me about the real you and the mission that you were on, but look at where you are, dobe." Were the first words out of his teammates mouth. _

_"Teme, what the fuck are you doing here?" Naruto growled, as he unconsciously began to use the fox's chakra and regained all his previously lost energy. _

_"Well dobe, I don't know if you know how a group mission works, but we need to sort out any problems we have before I get too deep into the mission." Sasuke slowly told the blonde, as if he was dumb._

_"Don't forget that Jiraiya and I are here to make sure everything stays civil!" Haru called out from the kitchen. "Shikamaru, come in here and help Jiraiya and I with dinner, let those two talk alone!"_

_Squeezing his hand in reassurance, Shikamaru glanced once more at Naruto to send him a warning look that said he would hurt Naruto if he did anything stupid, before he let go of the blondes hand and made his way into the kitchen._

_Tearing his gaze away from his retreating boyfriend, Naruto looked back at his former teammate. "Fine, if you want to talk, than let's talk." He said, still standing as he crossed his arms over his chest._

_"Hm."_

* * *

Naruto hated to admit it, but after a week of training and hanging out with his boyfriend, he forgot how exhausting it could be to be around it entire class. Sure, he was also there training with Endeavor and Todoroki, but Todoroki was a very quiet and calming classmate who Naruto didn't need to socially strain himself to be around.

In short, homeroom hadn't even started yet and all of his classmates were already giving him a headache. Mainly Bakugou and his friends, who were making fun of his new hairstyle, and Uraraka, who was practicing her battle stances around the room.

But the class suddenly became silent when Kaminari brought up the topic of the Hero Killer, which prompted Sero to point out Naruto, as well as the other three boys involved in the attack.

The conversation shifted from the class expressing their worry over the boys, to how the number two hero saved them (and Naruto was shocked when he heard Todoroki confirm this with their classmates), to how the Hero Killer was possibly connected to the league of villains, to the video posted online about Stain where Kaminari (as Naruto was beginning to expect from his classmate) turned the conversation even more sour by explaining what Naruto assumed was support for the villain.

"Seeing that, you can really see how he's really single-minded and like, tenacious. Does it almost make you think he's cool?" Kaminari said, which further supported Naruto's theory that his classmate half-supported the villain.

"Kaminari!" Izuku exclaimed in alarm upon hearing this statement.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry!" Kaminari responded, as his brain seemed to catch up with his actions.

"No, it's fine. It's true that he was tenacious. I understand how people could think he's cool. But he chose purging as a result of his beliefs. No matter what he thinks, that part is definitely wrong. In order to keep anyone else from turning out like me," Iida said, as he stared at his arm, before turning his gaze to the entire class and finishing his statement. "I will once again walk on the path to becoming a hero! Now, it is time to commence class! Everyone, take you seats!"

Now that Iida was back to ordering the class around, accompanied by his ever so rigid hand motions, Naruto allowed himself to fade into the back of the room and observe his classmates with a smile on his face.

* * *

"Okay, I am here. Anyway, we'll start now. Right. It's hero basic training! Long time no see, boys and girls! How've you been? For this hero basic training-since you've all just gotten back from your internships, we'll have some fun with a rescue training race!" All Might said, albeit a little rushed, as he addressed the class outside of a training ground.

Naruto was beginning to learn that some habits his classmates had would never die out. Now, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the same thing that had happened the first time All Might taught a class was now happening yet again. Interrupting the man's speech, Iida raised his hand to ask a question. "If we are doing rescue training, than shouldn't we do it as the USJ?" he asked, as he quickly raised his hand high into the air.

"That place is for training disasters. Do you remember what I said? That's right! I said 'race'! This is Field Gamma! A dense area filled with factories laid out like an intricate labyrinth. You'll break up into four five-person groups and go through the training one group at a time. When I send out a distress signal somewhere inside, you'll all start at once from the outskirts of the city! It's a race to see who will rescue me first! Of course, you'll have to keep the damage to a minimum." All Might explained to the class, as he moved his hand to point at Bakugou during the latter part of his statement.

"Don't point at me!" Bakugou growled in response as he looked away from the hero, almost as if he was embarrassed.

"All right. Frist group, get in place!" He announced to the class as he left to move into his 'hiding spot'.

* * *

"Isn't Midoriya at a slight disadvantage here? This group is comprised of people with great mobility." Yaoyorozu noted as she looked at the members that made up the first group for the exercise.

"That's true. Honestly, I don't know how good he is. Uzumaki would be a better fit in that group." Jirou said in response to her female classmate, as Naruto felt her eyes shift over to his frame across the watch-way.

"That's true. And he gets injured every time he uses his quirk…"

"Hey Kaminari, who do you think'll win? I think Sero will be first!" Kirishima announced, trying to get rid of the depressing air that was beginning to settle over the class.

"I think it will be Ashido, she's really athletic!" Kaminari said, though Naruto had a feeling that was not the real reason he wanted his female classmate to win.

"What you are both forgetting is that Ojiro is also there. While his presence isn't the most noticeable one, he has a very strong quirk and that tail would be very useful in a situation like this, especially with all of the buildings around them." Naruto said, figuring he should also add in another opinion to spice things up.

"Deku will be last!" Bakugou yelled from the back.

"Even if he is injured, I still think Iida will win." Ochako said, also adding in her opinion.

"Ah, but speed is not everything in a situation like this." Naruto reminded his classmate.

"Okay, here we go! Start!" All Might announced, before pressing a button that sounded an alarm, letting everyone know that it was time to start.

Everyone immediately took off, using their quirks to the best of their ability. Ser used his tape to hop from building to building, Ashido used her acid to skate across the surface of the buildings, and Ojiro used his tail to propel him from building to building.

"See! Look! I told you!" Kirishima yelled out, as he watched Sero take first place right off the bat. "In a place all jumbled together like this, it's standard practice to go up!"

"Which means, Sero has an advantage in the air huh?" Shoji said through one of his excess limbs.

It wasn't too long after this that the class saw that an advantage wasn't everything in life, as Izuku stole first place from his classmate as he jumped from building to building, showing off parkour moves that he must have learned over his internship.

"Wow! What's with those moves man?!" Naruto, Kirishima, and Kaminari all announced in unison through the one collective brain cell that they shared, completely awed by their classmates 180 in terms of his quirk usage in just a week.

The race continued on for a few more minutes, with Sero and Izuku alternating between first and second place. But ultimately, Sero won in the end and was presented with a sash from All Might, that the teen proudly wore.

* * *

"Man, that was some hard training. It was the first class in a while that made me sweat!" Aoyama said as he whipped his face with a towel that matched his cape.

"I really need to work on my mobility…" Kirishima said as he slowly took apart his hero costume.

"You must compensate for it by gathering information." Tokoyami told him as he began to tie his tie around his neck.

"That'll put me a step behind everyone." Kaminari told his classmate as he switched out his t-shirts. "I'm jealous of guys like you and Sero."

"Excuse me, Naruto, Todoroki, I hope I am not overstepping any boundaries when I ask you this, but where did you both learn the moves you exhibited in the training today? Endeavor isn't exactly the type of hero that is known for his stealth."

Upon hearing the question asked by his classmate, Naruto took a minute to think back to what had happened during the exercise earlier that day. He and Todoroki were paired in the same group for the training exercise. Because All Might had specified no damage to the buildings, both boys came to the same conclusion, which was that they would take the stealthier route with the lesson.

It was something that paid off, as Naruto came in second place with Todoroki as a close third.

"Oh, well when I was interning with Naruto and Shikamaru, I noticed that they had a very similar fighting style, which was quick, calm, subtle, and quiet. I know that as a hero I will be put in situations where my presence must not be known or I could fail a mission, so I asked them to teach me some of their moves that I could potentially use. While I could never get the fighting style down, I did learn how to sneak around better." Todoroki said, surprising Naruto that he even answered the question at all considering that the was extremely embarrassed when he first asked the question to, he and his boyfriend.

Before any response could begin to form from Iida, the entire lockeroom's focus shifted to Kaminari as he yelled out "GUYS!" and looked at everyone like he had just won a pot of gold.

"What?" Ojiro asked him, a worried mom look embedded into his face.

"Is that a peep hole over there?" He asked, as giddy as a kid on Christmas as he pointed over to a hole in the wall that was previously covered by a poster that now has one fallen corner.

"Stop this right now Kaminari! Peeping is definitely a criminal act!" Iida announced as he began his hand motions once more.

"Mini me is already a criminal act!" Kaminari announced as he made his way over to the poster to pull it back farther in order to look through it.

Fortunately for the girls, Kaminari didn't even get to look inside the hole before Jirou's headphone jack was coming through the hole and stabbing Kaminari through the ear.

"Jirou's headphone jack! With its brutal combination of precision and surprise attack abilities, it's super strong!" Izuku announced, never not taking note of other quirks.

* * *

"Well, it's almost summer vacation. But of course, it wouldn't make sense for you to rest for the whole month." Aizawa-sensei announced the next day in class during homeroom.

"Don't tell me…" Kaminari muttered to himself as he looked at Kirishima who was seated behind him to share the panic.

"During summer vacation, we'll be having a training camp in the woods!" Aizawa told the class, ignoring the blondes comment.

"I knew it! Yes!" The entire class yelled out as they celebrated.

"Let's test our courage!" Mina yelled out, as full of energy as ever.

"Fireworks!" Asui said as she looked up at the sky.

"Curry!" Iida said, raising his hand to ensure that he was still following the rules.

"If we're out in nature, we will have to work under different conditions, right?" Yaoyorozu wondered to herself.

"No matter what the environment, we must choose wisely…interesting." Tokoyami muttered.

"Eating and sleeping with everyone! I'm getting excited!" Hagakure announced, just glad to do something fun as a class.

"However," Aizawa yelled, activating his quirk to get the class's attention back on him. "those who do not pass the final exam before that…will be in summer school hell."

"Everyone, let's do our best!" Kirishima and Kaminari yelled out in unison.

"This is damn stupid." Bakugou muttered to himself.

* * *

"Okay, that's it for class. There's only one wee left until the final exams. You all are studying properly, right? I'm sure you already know, but it won't just be a written exam. There's also a practical component. Make sure you train your minds and bodies at the same time. That's all." Aizawa-sensei announced, as he left the classroom to teach his next class.

Upon the reminded of the upcoming final exam, the students that scored in the bottom of the class during the mid-terms immediately began freaking out about the test. Naruto, who had not gotten much sleep the night before after Jiraiya and Haru felt the need to remind him every other second that he had to be able to go on the class trip, put his head down and attempted to catch up on the sleep that he had lost the previous night.

"Excuse me…Uzumaki," Once Naruto heard a voice calling out to him, not even a minute after he had put his head down, he mentally sighed to himself and picked his head up to see that it was Tokoyami talking to him.

"Oh, hey Tokoyami, what's up?" Naruto asked his classmate.

"Well, I was just wondering…if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could I possible train with you for the practical portion of the exam? The rescue race that recently took place made me realize that I need to up my endurance and close-combat training." He bashfully asked his classmate.

"Of course, if that's something you really want to do. But just know…I will not go easy on you." Naruto told his classmate, eloping in a dark aura before returning back to his normal self. "Of course, I can help you with the basics but if you ever wanted to go more in-depth with stuff, than you would have to talk to Shikamaru."

"Who's Shikamaru?" Tokoyami asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Long story short, he's my roommate." Naruto answered.

* * *

Apparently, Izuku and some of his friends were able to find out what the practical part of the exam would be at lunch, because Kaminari and Ashido were celebrating the easy win they had yet to get as soon as they walked into the classroom. Which, in Naruto's opinion, was a stupid thing to do. If there was one thing, he had learned during his time at U.A., it was that there was always a new twist or turn when it came to stuff like this.

But, before he could think of what that turn would be, Bakugou decided that he wanted to declare war on everyone in front of the entire class.

"It doesn't matter if they're people or robots. They're the same if you beat 'em up, right? What're you idiots talking about it being a cinch for? If you need to control your quirk, then control it! Idiot!" He yelled at Kaminari and Ashido, before turning his attention to his childhood friend.

"Hey, Deku!" He yelled, and the air in the classroom immediately became tense. "I don't know if you've figured out how to use your quirk a little or what, but you seriously keep rubbing me the wrong way. I don't need another half-assed result like at the sports festival. At the upcoming finals, we'll get individual scores, so we'll see who's better whether you like it or not. I'll beat you with an indisputable difference! I'll kill you!" He declared, pointing at Deku as to affirm that he was talking to him, despite already yelling out his name.

Now most would think that Bakugou would be done here, but he decided to address yet another classmate of his that he had formed a sort of one-sided rivalry with. "Todoroki! You too!" He yelled, before walking out of the classroom and slamming the door behind him.

_'Todoroki?' _ Naruto thought to himself. _'Since when does Bakugou refer to anyone by their actual name? He still called Izuku by the nickname he gave him, and he hates him more than Todoroki.'_

_'Maybe they're gay for each other.' _Naruto heard Kurama suggest. _'One with no emotions, and the other with anger as their default emotion, I say they balance each other out quite well.'_

_'No Kurama don't be ridiculous.' _Naruto said, immediately shooting down the fox's idea. _'There's no way they can be in a secret relationship. Plus, Kirishima said earlier that he was counting on Bakugou to beat the information into his head to the final exam. If that doesn't scream that they already fucked each other than I don't know what will. Besides, he's over there now trying to apologize to the two of them on behalf of his boyfriend.'_ Naruto explained to his tenant, as his eyes shifted over to the man in question, who was frantically apologizing to everyone in the class.

* * *

Naruto knew when he agreed to help his classmate that he would have to work at the same pace as him, no matter how much it killed him. So, because Tokoyami had only ever done training with his quirk due to it allowing him to be more skilled at long-range fighting, the entire week was spent doing basic genin conditioning exercises.

But Naruto would be lying if he said that he didn't feel proud of Tokoyami as he saw him steadily improve by the end of the week. Maybe he would ask the old lady about getting his own team once his real rank and skill were revealed to the rest of the village.

"My student," Naruto began, as he stood at his doorway with Tokoyami, sending him off for the last time before their final exam. In celebration of the progress that he had made, Naruto had invited his classmate to stay for dinner with he, Shikamaru, Jiraiya, and Haru, who all genuinely enjoyed Tokoyami's presence, despite him constantly talking about his battle with his darkness.

And, the student comment Naruto made was just to see the annoyed look that would come over his classmates face every time he said that.

"Can he be your student if you are both in the same class?" Shikamaru asked Naruto.

"Can you really be a student if you are smarter and have more experience in the field than your teacher?" Naruto asked his boyfriend.

"Touché." Was the amazing comeback that the genius could come up with.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really am proud of what you have done this week, you came a far way in such a short amount of time, and definitely exceeded my expectation with your progress." Naruto said, as he puffed his chest out and gave his classmate a thumbs up. "You must have had an amazing teacher." Naruto added at the end, just to see the reaction from his classmate.

"While when you usually say things like that it bothers me," Tokoyami began, "I will admit that you were a great teacher and taught me to never give up and push myself beyond my limits every day. I wish you luck on the final exams and thank you once again for welcoming me into your home." He finished with a bow.

"Oh kid, don't worry about it. You're welcome here anytime. Maybe even more than Naruto if you keep this up. I'm beginning to like you more than the gaki." Haru told the teen, while doing one of his most favorite things, which was to poke fun at Naruto.

"Hey, watch it!" Naruto yelled at his senior.

"Or what?" Haru asked, a smirk beginning to form on his face. But before the banter could continue any further, they were interrupted by Tokoyami's light chuckling. Naruto was pretty sure it was the first time that he had ever heard his classmate laugh and be so carefree.

"I will keep that in mind. If there is any way I can ever pay any of you back, than please let me know. Naruto," His classmate said, turning his full attention to the blonde. "I noticed that you too, also struggle with the darkness the same way I do, a demon inside of you that you never asked for. I noticed that your demon would sometimes stir like dark shadow would, without your consent and for no reason. If you ever need any tips on how to control and work with your demon than let me know, I would be more than happy to help." He said, before bowing once more and then walking away, leaving four stumped shinobi at the door, with their mouths hanging open.

* * *

Three days just for a written exam was a little much if you asked Naruto. Having to sit still for seven hours each day for three days straight was slowly killing the poor teen, who was having to go home every day and beat up his boyfriend, and then the surrounding environment when his boyfriend decided that everything was to troublesome and went to smoke a cigarette in the corner as he watched Naruto continue to let out his energy.

But, alas, Naruto got through it and now it was the time that Naruto had been waiting for, the practical exam.

The class was told by Aizawa-sensei to change into their Hero costumes and meet him at the Practical Exam Area-Center Plaza, so everyone, excited for what was to come, rushed to change into their costumes before racing out to the battle center, where they were met with most of their teachers.

"Now, we will begin the practical exam." Aizawa-sensei announced to the class. "Of course, it is possible to fail this exam. If you want to go to the training camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes. I expect that you have heard about the practical portion of the final exams and have some idea of what you will be doing." He continued, going back to his emotionless self.

"We're fighting robot warriors like at the entrance exam, right?" Kaminari yelled out.

"Fireworks! Curry! Test of courage!" Ashido screamed out, excited for the training camp.

"Too bad! For various reasons, the exam will be different this year!" A muffled voice yelled out, before the principle came out of Aizawa's capture gear, which was more than beyond bizarre for Naruto. Why would that man let that small creature sit inside his capture gear in the first place? And look so calm while doing it?

"From now on, we want to focus on person-to-person combat and hero work, and stress teaching that is closer than to actual fighting. So…we'll have you form teams of two and fight against one teacher!" The principle continued as he hopped onto the floor.

And once they realized they would have to control their quirk, Ashido and Kaminari immediately fell to the ground in despair.

"Against the teachers?!" Ochako yelled out.

"In addition, the pairs and who each pair will be up against has already been decided. These were determined at my discretion based on various factors, including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships. So here they are: First, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu are one team, and they are fighting against me." Aizawa said, as he smiled at the two students and lifted his capture gear up. Next, Midoriya and Bakugou are a team, and their opponent…" He continued, trailing off as the final teacher made their appearance.

"I...will do it! Work together to beat me, you two!" All Might announced as he fell onto the battle grounds.

"And now, we'll announce the teams and the teachers they'll be up against all at once! First is Sero and Kirishima against Cementoss! Second is Tokoyami and Asui against Ectoplasm! Third is Ojiro and Iida against Power Loader! Fourth is Todoroki and Yaoyorozu against Aizawa! Fifth is Uraraka and Aoyama against Thirteen! Sixth is Ashido and Kaminari against me! Seventh is Jirou and Koda against Present Mic! Eighth is Shoji and Hagakure against Snipe! Ninth is Sero and Uzumaki against Midnight! And the last match is Bakugou and Midoriya against All Might!" The principle told the class. "The time limit for the exam is thirty minutes! Your objective is either to put these handcuffs on the teacher, or to have one of you escape from the stage!" He continued.

"Is it really okay to run away?" Ashido asked.

"Yup!" The principle said, nodding in confirmation.

"This isn't like combat training! You'll be up against someone waaaaaaaaaay better than you!" Present Mic told everyone.

"Better…than us? I can't really imagine it, though…" Jirou said, taking the opportunity to make fun of her teacher.

"Dummy girl! Watch your mouth you hear?!" Present Mic told her, acting like a middle-schooler.

"This time, your exam will be very similar to a real battle. Please, think of us as villains." Thirteen said, trying to get everyone back on track.

"Assuming you come across the enemy, if you think you can win a fight against them, than that's fine. However-" Snipe started, before Aizawa interrupted him.

"In cases where there's too big a difference in your abilities, it would be smarter to run away and get help. Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, Uzumaki, you all should understand this very well." Naruto personally had many things wrong with the 'run away' portion of the test but held himself back from speaking about it in front of the class, as it was neither the time nor place for that.

"That's right! Your decision-making skills are being tested! But with these rules, you're probably thinking the only choice is to run, right? That's why we had the support course make these for us!" All Might exclaimed as he held out a weight.

"Ultra-compressed weights!" Present Mic yelled out to the class.

"We'll put on about half of our body weight. It's to give you a handicap. It's old fashioned, but it makes it hard to move and eats up stamina! Oh shoot, they're heavier than I thought…" All Might said, muttering the last part to himself. "By the way, there was a competition to decide on the design, and we ended up using Young Hatsume's."

"All right, each team will take the practical exam in order on the prepared stage. Sato, Kirishima, get ready. Those waiting their turn can watch the exams or think of strategies as a team. Do what you want." Aizawa told the class, before walking away with all of the teachers.

Not wanting to waste any time talking to any of his classmates, Naruto immediately walked up to Sero, grabbed his wrist, and started dragging him into one of the holding rooms so they could discuss their strategy against Midnight.

"Woah Naruto, I also wanted to come up with a plan but did you half to be so aggressive about that?" Sero asked, as he stood in the room rubbing his wrist as Naruto slammed the door shut behind them.

"Sero, I think you are a great classmate, but there is one thing I want to set straight before we even start. Under no circumstances are we going to fail this exam. I need you to be completely honest with me if you want to pass this exam, because it is the only way that we will win." Naruto told his classmate, completely serious as he stared at him directly in the eyes, a completely serious aura around him. After all, he wasn't going to let anything or anyone stop him from completing his mission, even if that thing was a stupid final exam.

* * *

**A/N: I am so sorry for the late update! I just started school again and do various extracurriculars for my school and am an officer in one of the clubs that I am in, I just got a new job, plus I am currently raising three animals on my own, and this is all stuff that has happened in the past 2 weeks. I will try to keep updating once a week, but it might turn into once every 2 weeks or once a month until I can figure out a schedule and set aside more time for writing. But what do you guys think of this chapter, a lot has happened so let me know your thoughts! Naruto helped train Tokoyami for the exam, and he may know about the fox that rests inside Naruto, which was actually a suggestion that one of you guys left, so thanks for that idea! What do you guys think about Naruto's pairing for the final exam, as well as the teacher that he is fighting against? What do you think everyone will do know that they know Tokoyami knows about Kurama? How do you think the conversation between Sasuke and Naruto will go? Let me know!**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who has followed and favorited this story.**

* * *

_"Sasuke…the fact that you took the time to sit down and talk about everything that happened with me really shows how much you have changed as a person…but I don't know if I can forgive you just like that for everything, no matter the reasoning."_

_"It's okay Naruto, I wasn't expecting that…but thanks for not killing me as soon as you saw me."_

_Hearing this, Naruto scoffed, a smirk forming on his face as he relaxed in his seat. "You wish teme. Nope, when we get back to the village, you'll probably be facing a similar discrimination to the one that I face. And Kami do I hope that happens."_

_"Well I guess the rumors from the ANBU were right, you really are a little sadist, aren't you?" _

_"Don't worry, if you redeem yourself in time than I guess I can help you out when dealing with it."_

_"Oh and how can I every expect to get back into your good graces as just a humble servant my good lord?" Sasuke asked, a smirk of his own forming on his face as he spoke with sarcasm dripping from his mouth._

_"Only time will tell my dear subject." Naruto responded in the same matter._

_Maybe their friendship wasn't as dead as they both once thought it was._

* * *

As soon as Naruto heard the words that came from Sero's mouth he had to fight an urge that came on stronger than ever in order to not hurt one of the two people currently occupying the room.

"Of course I want to win, but it'll be an easy win, right? Can't we just hold our breath while we fight her? I can put tape over our mouths and noses so we won't be effected by her quirk, and you can do one of your fancy energy manipulation things and we can be on our way! Easy in, easy capture, easy out!" He exclaimed with a simple, as if the answer was the simplest thing in the world.

_'You know kit, I kinda had hope for this one, thought he was a little bit smarter than the rest of his friends. Apparently, what little hope I had for this country was used on the wrong person.'_ With this statement, Naruto came to realize that the human and fox were on the same page for once in their life.

_'Tell me about it Kurama. If I wasn't worried about brain damage affecting his performance today, I would have banged his head so hard into the wall that it broke.'_ Naruto told the fox as he sent a mental picture of the scenario to his tenant, before shaking his head and focusing on his classmate sitting across from him.

"Sero, if you think this exam is going to be easy, than let me tell you straight out that you are wrong. It may not seem like it, but Midnight is a serious threat to us. And unless you have some secrete special training that I don't know about, it would be nearly impossible to fight her while holding our breath. It's your body's natural instinct to breathe, especially in a situation like that, and your tape wont filter out much. If you plan to fight her head on, even if it's just for a short period of time, an attack like that is guaranteed to fail." Naruto told his classmate, not caring if he sounded rude at all. There was no way he was going to be failing this exam.

"Ok…but do you have a better plan? Because that's all I have to go off of." Sero sheepishly said as he scratched his chin.

"Well…" Naruto said smirking, as he explained his plan to Sero.

* * *

As soon as the exam for Naruto officially started, he immediately jumped into action…by running in the opposite direction of all of the action. He was still following Sero, who was currently on a quest to locate their current enemy, Midnight. But he followed from a safe distance at the rooftops to make sure that the 'villain' wouldn't notice him.

It didn't take long at all for his classmate to find the R-rated hero, as she seemed to like face-to-face battles more than ones that were hidden behind plots and schemes. She was very straightforward when it came to fighting.

Upon finding his teammate, the hero turned villain immediately noticed that half of the hero team was gone and took note of it, bringing up her observations to his classmate, who gave a bullshit excuse about how they couldn't agree on how to approach the exam and weren't going to work together. While he was saying this, their teacher began to ready the whip in her hand for action and activated her quirk when she got about 50 feet from him.

So far so good.

Not even a second after she activated her quirk, Sero used his tape to get away from the teacher and began making his way around using the urban setting to his advantage, landing behind Naruto.

As soon as his classmate started to move and was out of the direct hit line, Naruto began to start his part of the mission. Making the proper hand motions, Naruto whispered, "Wind Release: Gale Palm." And clapped his hands together, sending a great wind towards the hero. The strong winds combined with the loose debris falling around them caused the teacher to temporarily loose her balance and eyesight.

Using this to his advantage, his classmate was again on the move and using the urban setting to his fullest advantage. Using the wind as a means to propel him in the air even quicker, Sero began using his tape to tie the teacher up. The loose debris made it harder for Sero to see, but it didn't affect him as heavily as his teacher thanks to his helmet.

By the time the wind began to die down, the R-rated hero had been completely tied up thanks to his classmate, chest down to the ground, her whip taped to a wall a couple yards away from her.

Knowing that he was going to the next move, Naruto jumped from the building top and down to the ground, crouching down to make another set of hand symbols before whispering "Earth Style: Suicidal Beheading" and disappearing from his spot on the ground, only to reappear a couple moment later by his teacher, securing the cuff around her wrist before pulling her down into the ground and standing where she was laying moments ago.

"Team Uzumaki and Sero pass!" Was heard over the speaker system as the two classmates high fived and smiled at each other, happy that they weren't going to spend the summer taking more classes.

* * *

Once Naruto and Sero finished rejoicing in the fact that they, indeed, actually passed the practical portion of the exam, they made their way to were their other classmates were to watch the final battle. This happened to be the one against All Might, which put a damper on everyone's mood as they were worried for their classmates.

Truth be told, Naruto had hoped that he and Sero would spend so much time goofing off that they wouldn't make it back in time to see any part of this battle. It reminded him to much of his and Sasuke's relationship, and that was still a very open wound that didn't need to go any deeper than it already was.

He supposed that Sasuke would be more comparable to Bakugou. Seeing as, from a young age, both boys looked down on those around them and believed that they were stronger than everyone around them. They were both determined to achieve their goals no matter what, despite other around them telling them that they were going about it the wrong way. Both boys refused to accept help from those they viewed as "lesser" than them. Both boys who were (or eventually would) attempt to fix their relationship with those around them.

Naruto assumed that in terms of the relationship dynamics, he would relate more to Izuku. He was someone that everyone used to look down on, and everyone once believed that they were stronger than him, no matter what he did to prove them wrong. He, like Izuku, was determined to achieve his dream of being Hokage no matter what (even if it meant hiding his true strength and creating a fake persona for the entire village to see). Both he and Izuku were determined to stay by their "best friends" side, no matter how they were treated by this person, as they saw it as their mission to fix or save them.

But, despite these similarities, Naruto also realized that his and Sasukes relationship was very different than Izuku's and Bakugous.

Unlike Izuku, Naruto was not afraid to punch his childhood friend twice as hard as he hit him when they fought. Naruto also wasn't afraid to speak up to Sasuke if he didn't like what he was doing or thought that he was in the wrong, resulting in Naruto starting most of the fights between the two boys. Naruto didn't allow Sasuke to constantly talk down to him, because he knew deep down that Sasuke did value and appreciate their relationship despite his denial of them having any relationship. Sasuke defending Naruto behind closed doors and putting up less of a fight when working together on missions was enough for him to know. The biggest clue was that Naruto didn't die on that day were Sasuke decided to push lightning through his heart. No matter how much he wanted to kill Naruto, he couldn't, and Naruto knew of that fact.

Unlike Bakugou, Sasuke had an older brother that kept him humble while he was still allowed in the village, even if the villagers did inflate his head after his family died. Despite wanting to fight against his older brother, he knew when he was beat by the man, and never showed the denial in skill that Bakugou showed to All Might. And unlike Bakugou, Sasuke (after a VERY long time) saw the flaws in what he did and owned up to it. He is trying to regain the trust of many and fix his ways (again, Naruto had to remind himself that it took Sasuke a VERY long time to realize this).

Naruto was brought out of his pondering when the entire room erupted into screams and cries of joy, as the two boys seemed to have passed the exam despite both looking broken beyond repair. Maybe this society was a little more intense than Naruto once thought. But Naruto could think about that later, he was just happy that his classmates didn't bother to look beyond their joy and see that Naruto was far from happy.

* * *

Sasuke hoped to Kami that this information broker was the real deal. After causing a ruckus here and there, just enough to get noticed by people like him, Sasuke was subjected to an extremely long and boring process were the information broker had to make sure that he agreed to Stain's ideologies before being told to wait another month before meeting up with the man again just to meet the League of Villains, were they would than decide if they wanted him or not.

Now, Sasuke could of very easily just have tracked down the League of Villains himself, but he had determined that that would have looked to suspicious, as he was a foreigner. It was better to be found than offer yourself up. So, he played the long game, no matter how impatient it made him.

So here he was, following the silver-haired information broker into an old rundown bar, with a high school girl and scar-faced man next to him.

If he was honest with himself, this "home" for the organization (if you could even call it that) made sense in his head. While they were popular with the media, the group had no known legal or illegal source of income. And with the checks that Jiraiya did, along with Sasuke himself, they would have known if they were getting any source of money or doing any other illegal activity. As far as he could tell, the group was relaying on the media attention they were getting, as well as their known ties to Stain, to bring in new members. But the thorough selection process might have thrown out many new recruits.

Once they received the go-ahead from the broker to enter the bar, Sasuke and the two others did just that, and entered the abandoned bar.

"So it's you huh? I saw a picture of you, but you look gross in person…" Scar face spoke up. But Sasuke knew to many people with scares on their face, so perhaps staples would be a better name to call him by until he knew his name. but regardless, staples had no room to talk about looking gross, as the man's skin was covered in burn scars and staples.

"Wow! The hand guy!" This was spoken in what seemed to be enthusiasm…but then again, the girl looked insane so this could be her default mode for all he knew. "You're friends with Mr. Stainy, right? Right? Let me join too! The League of Villains!" She continued, And Mr. Stainy? Was she talking about the Hero Killer? Why in the world was she calling him that? Sasuke was half tempted to take a step closer to the staples guy. He knew the girl wasn't a threat, but she did make him uncomfortable. Staples was more his vibe.

"Kurogiri, get rid of these guys. Everything I hate came together in one set. A brat, a crude guy, and a silent guy who is probably also rude." Hand guy said as soon as Sasukes two accomplices introduced themselves.

Now, now, the came all this way to visit, so let's at least hear them out. Besides, that big shot broker brought them. They're bound to be valuable assets." Purple smoke spoke up.

"I don't care what you do with them, but make sure that I get my commission Kurogiri." The information broker, who was now smoking a cigarette in the doorway, spoke up. "At lease let me introduce them. First, this cute high school girl. Her name and face were kept under tight wraps from the media. But, she's on the run as the suspect in a series of deaths by blood loss." He continued.

"I'm Toga! Himiko Toga!" The girl said as she introduced herself. "It's hard to live. I want the world to become an easier place to live! I want to become Mr. Stainy! So let me join the League of Villains, Tomura!"

"I don't get her. Is she crazy?" Hands asked, as if the answer wasn't obvious by now. He was tempted to yell out a yes to the man in just pure frustration but refrained from doing so.

"She can hold a conversation for the most part. I'm sure she'll be of use. Next, the guy over here, he hasn't committed any flashy crimes, but he holds fast to the hero killer's ideology." The silver-haired man continued.

"I'm uneasy about this." Was the only introduction staples had to offer.

And before hands could get pissy about the poor introduction, the information broker introduced the last person in the room.

"And finally, we have guy standing in the middle over here. Despite only being in the area for a short time, he has committed a ton of crime already. As long as he gets enough money, he'll pretty much do anything you want. From body-guarding, assassinating, stalking, and even torturing people. He does have a very strong moral code though, similar to Stains, which is get rid of the corrupt and save the innocent. It was especially hard to find out about this one and track him down. He prefers to work in the shadows and is extremely good at it."

Sasuke, for his part, did not offer an introduction, and instead opted to nod at the two men who appeared to be the face of the League of Villains.

"Does this organization really have a just cause?" Staples spoke up, bringing the attention back to him. Don't tell me you're going to let this crazy woman in?"

"Hey, you, you didn't even do what that crazy high school girl managed to do." Hands said, defending the girl a little bit. "Give your name first. You're an adult, right?"

"I currently go bad Dabi." Staples answered, ignoring the other question.

"That's not what I want to know. What's your real name?" Hands asked, his temper rising by the minute.

"I'll tell you when its time. Anyway, I will carry out the will of the Hero Killer." Staples said, stubbornly trying to remain mysterious.

"You don't have to say what you haven't been asked. Now tell me your name, along with you in the corner. What is your name?" Hands continued, growing more frustrated by the minute.

"I will tell you when its time." Staples, or Sasuke supposed he should start calling him Dabi, said which did nothing to calm the man child down.

"Sasuke." Was the only thing the Uchiha offered as an answer, but it seemed to satisfy hands non the less as he began to go on about the reason everyone had arrived.

"Jeez, everyone's so hung up about Stain, Stain… I don't like it. I don't feel good. You're all no good!" This was the only warning everyone got before hands decided that he would just kill everyone in the room. As if this was the only logical way to handle the situation. Sasuke, who was surprised it had taken the man this long to build up to his current rage level considering everyone said he acted like a child, grabbed his sword off of his back and dropped into a fighting position. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the insane chick pull out a knife and start running at the leader, while Dabi put an arm out, presumably to use his quirk.

But, before anyone could do any real damage, the purple smoke man used his quirk to make sure that no one could actually do any damage to another person.

"Please calm down, Tomura Shigaraki. If what you wish is to come to pass, then we must increase the organizations numbers. Strangely enough, we're in the spotlight right now, so this is our chance. We should not be rejecting them; we should be receiving them. You must use it. All of it…and all the ideology he left behind…"

"Shut up." The man child said, as he began to make his way out of the bar.

"Where are you going?"

"Shut up!"

"I don't want to complain about a client, but…he's young. Too young." The silver haired man said.

"I thought he was going to kill us." Toga said…almost disappointed as if she was upset it didn't happen and longed for it, which just enforced the fact that she was crazy.

"He makes me sick…" Was the only thing staples had to offer.

"Would it be all right to give you an answer at a later date? I believe he knows what he should do. It's because he knows that that he left without saying anything. All Might, Hero Killer, he has been humbled twice already. I'm sure he will reach an answer that both you and he himself will be satisfied with." Purple smoke answered. Was he the true face behind the operation? No, if he was, he wouldn't allow himself to be seen so openly. And despite All For One being damaged in his last battle with All Might, he looked much to different than the given description. No, but he did appear to be close to All For One. If Shigaraki was going to be his successor, it seemed that Kurogiri was the one grooming him to be the leader that All For One wants him to be.

With those final thoughts, the information broker escorted the three possible members out of the bar.

* * *

**A/N: I am SO sorry for the delay for this chapter, I honestly lost track of how long ago I was supposed to upload this. I had the chapter ready on time, but my computer decided to delete the entire file, so I had to rewrite the entire thing. This is on top of having to write, record, edit, and submit a 15 minute speech for my school that I only had 2 weeks to do. I also work both days on the weekends, so I don't have a free day. And this was also on top of the club that I hold a leadership position in and all of my advanced classes…so I have been extremely busy! Again, I'm really sorry about this! I will try my best to make the next chapter come quicker! But what did you guys think of this chapter? Naruto and Sasuke have begun to rebuild what was burnt of their relationship (I know I felt out the details of the conversation, those will come out in later chapters don't worry) and Sasuke is beginning to get close to the LOV. Also, I know the fight between Naruto, Sero, and Midnight might seem kinda sort or bland/easy, but I am trying to make it seem like Naruto is showing off more of his skill and power. Another thing, the summer training arc is coming up which will be very exciting! What do you guys think will happen during the summer camp? As always, be sure to tell me what you thought of this chapter!**


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